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A private healthcare provider has agreed to pay damages to a patient with learning disabilities after staff broke his arm, The Independent can reveal.
Cygnet Health Care, one of the largest providers of mental health inpatient care in the UK, has settled a claim with the former patient of a hospital it now owns.
Jamie Newcombe, a 29-year-old autistic man with learning disabilities, took action against the healthcare giant after he allegedly suffered “significant physical and psychological harm” at Bostall House assessment and treatment unit in London.
He claimed he had been “violently restrained by staff and pushed out into the hospital garden” in 2014, at the age of 19. At the time, the hospital was owned by another private company, the Danshell Group.
As a result of this restraint, he says, he sustained a fracture in his right arm and staff allegedly left his injuries untreated for 24 hours.
He said he suffered further physical assaults in December 2014 and January 2015, that he was subjected to “degrading treatment” such as personal care being ignored, and was denied access to hot running water for three weeks.
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He also alleged the restraint and injury had long-lasting impacts including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which continues to affect him.
His family also claimed that in 2014, a doctor at the unit threatened to send their son to a unit “a long way away” and bar them from seeing him.
Cygnet Health Care has admitted staff at Bostall House broke Mr Newcombe’s arm but denied his other claims. The provider has agreed to pay a five-figure sum, which the family do not want to fully disclose.
Following his experience, his mother Julie Newcombe launched Rightful Lives, an autism and learning disability rights campaign group that now has hundreds of members.
She told The Independent: “What happened to Jamie was horrific and is still happening to so many others 10 years later. I co-founded Rightful Lives six years ago to shine a light on the human rights of autistic people and people with learning disabilities. Yet the fact remains that if Jamie were to go into one of these units again, the same things could happen. That is our fear.”
Mr Newcombe was a patient at Bostall House between 2014 to 2015. Owners Danshell Group also ran the notorious Whorlton Hall where a BBC Panorama episode exposed staff abusing patients.
Law firm Leigh Day’s human rights solicitor Yvonne Kestler, who represented Mr Newcombe, said: “Jamie’s experience highlights failures in care provided to individuals with complex needs. It is deeply troubling that someone so vulnerable was left to suffer in this way.
“While no amount of compensation can undo the harm caused, we hope this settlement will help Jamie and serve as a reminder of the need for better care and oversight in institutions entrusted with vulnerable individuals.”
A Cygnet spokesperson said: “This dates back to 2014 when the service was owned and run by Danshell, a completely different company to Cygnet. Cygnet bought the service five years later in 2019 and we have now settled the claim we incurred from the previous owner.
“Today the service is rated ‘Good’ in all domains by the CQC and the events under Danshell’s ownership bear no resemblance to the quality of care being provided today.
“We hope our commitment to settling the claim allows the family to move forward and wish them well. We remain focused on always providing the highest standards of care.”
Cygnet Health Care, owned by US private equity-backed group Universal Health Services, took over the Danshell Group’s hospitals in 2018. Other Danshell Group hospitals taken over by Cygnet Health Care, such as Yew Trees Hospital, have also faced serious allegations of abuse.
Cygnet Health said it had identified abuse at Yew Trees as a result of monitoring CCTV and raised concerns with the Care Quality Commission and Nursing and Midwifery Council. One incident led the provider to suspend eight staff.
In responding to the reports in September 2020, Cygnet said: “The safety and wellbeing of the people in our care is our absolute priority, and we are appalled by the actions of this small minority of staff at Yew Trees.”
Earlier this month, The Independent revealed staff at a hospital owned by Cygnet Health Care, Joyce Parker Hospital, had been accused of abusing patients.
The abuse was alleged in a letter from the Care Quality Commission after inspectors found CCTV footage of staff “dragging” patients across the floor. Cygnet Health Care said it “refutes” the CQC’s allegations of abuse.
