Former Muckamore patient ill-treated in another facility, committee told

A vulnerable patient who was resettled from Muckamore Abbey Hospital was subjected to ill-treatment in another facility within the past several months, according to a campaign group.

Action for Muckamore said the true circumstances of the case only came to light after CCTV material was reviewed at the unidentified site, leading to 12 members of staff being fired and one person prosecuted.

Members of the group were giving evidence to Stormont's Health Committee on Thursday in relation to a proposed new law to protect vulnerable adults.

The Department of Health and Belfast Health Trust, which is responsible for Muckamore, have been contacted for response.

The group said they had been given permission to raise the case by the parents of the patient who had alleged ill-treatment.

Glynn Brown from Action For Muckamore told assembly members (MLAs) that the family were not believed when they contacted management at the facility, which he said he was not naming.

"Somebody moved into the facility several months ago, got resettled, and after a while this person [the patient] could speak and told the parents: 'I'm being ill-treated'," Brown said.

This was treated by management "as a load of rubbish", that the parents were a "problem family" and staff were "super", he said.

However, the facility's CCTV system was activated and in the subsequent months there were further complaints by the patient's family.

Brown said when the material was reviewed, "12 people were dismissed and one prosecuted by the police".

He said eight years after the "Muckamore scandal", the same issues were taking place and families were being disbelieved about allegations of ill-treatment of their loved ones.

Committee chair Philip McGuigan said the group's evidence had been "particularly harrowing" .

Earlier at the Health Committee, Action For Muckamore said the proposed new law to protect vulnerable adults - the Adult Protection Bill - needed to be comprehensively strengthened if historical mistakes were not to be repeated.

The group speaks for many people whose relatives were placed in Muckamore Abbey Hospital in County Antrim.

A public inquiry into abuse at Muckamore, which sat from 2022 until March 2025, is expected to deliver its final report and recommendations in March this year.

It is thought to be the biggest criminal adult safeguarding case of its kind in the UK.

The hospital was due to close in June 2024 but this was delayed as alternative accommodation placements in the community had not been found for all the remaining patients.

A separate major police investigation began in 2017 after allegations of ill-treatment began to emerge.

Brown said what happened there was "not an isolated failure - it was the predictable outcome of a safeguarding system that does not enforce its own rules".

"We support the introduction of the Adult Protection Bill. The need for this legislation has been clear for many years," he said.

"As far back as 2014, following failures at Cherry Tree Care Home, the commissioner for older people called for stronger adult protection.

"More than a decade later, families are still describing the same failures, the same gaps, and the same harm."

The Adult Protection Bill is designed to protect people who may be at risk of harm and is currently at committee stage.

Brown told MLAs the bill needed to be strengthened in four areas if it was "to genuinely protect vulnerable adults".

He said these related to the use of CCTV, culture, independent advocacy, and training, investigations and adherence to procedures with proper oversight.

Brown said the core problem was not a lack of policy, but the absence of enforcement, oversight and accountability.

There needed to be statutory oversight of the safeguarding process, which was not currently a function of the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA), he said.

Brown urged MLAs not to let the bill "become another promise without protection".

Catherine Fox from Action For Muckamore said the bill needed to ensure in law that poor culture "cannot survive".

She said the new law was "an opportunity to hardwire a safeguarding culture that protects people, listens to families and supports staff who do the right thing".

"If culture is not addressed properly in this bill, the same behaviours will continue, even under a new framework," she added.