Ashworth report confirms problems with special hospitals

BMJ 1999;318:211 ( 23 January )

News

Ashworth report confirms problems with special hospitals

John Warden, parliamentary correspondent , BMJ
The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The scandal of Ashworth Special Hospital, on Merseyside, UK, where a state of anarchy allowed mentally disordered patientsto participate in a regime of drug abuse and pornography, ranksas one of the worst failures of the NHS, concluded a two yearofficial inquiry published lastweek.

Parliament was shocked by the catalogue of problems noted in the personality disorder unit at Ashworth $---$ such as a 7 year oldgirl being groomed for paedophile purposes during regular visitsto patients $---$ which the health secretary, Frank Dobson, describedas a mess from top tobottom.

Doctors working at Ashworth were singled out for particular criticism by the inquiry chairman, Judge Peter Fallon. At onepoint in Ashworth's recent history, only three of 11 doctors inpost were judged to be competent. The report stated: "If suchlevels of incompetency and poor performance had occurred in anotherspecialty, such as general surgery, immediate and . . . [Full text of this article]