WITH five children and an elderly grandma with dementia to look after, Sara Standish was desperate for some respite care for her autistic son Josh.
But what followed was an 18-month nightmare which saw Josh sectioned and locked away in three different institutions.
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The 19-year-old, who has a mental age of three, was left covered in bruises and scratches at one centre which is threatened with closure after the Quality Care Commission ruled it did “not protect patients from abuse”.
Astonishingly, he was also sent to live in a caravan and Travelodge hotel after being banned from going home, where he is considered a risk to his four siblings – despite living with them for 18 years.
Mum Sara said: “It’s absolutely heartbreaking. I wish I’d never asked for help at all.
“I feel like I’ve let Josh down by failing to protect him. I feel so guilty.”
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Locked up with serial killers
Josh’s case exposes a Dickensian-type scandal which has seen almost 2,000 people with autism and learning disabilities locked away in mental health hospitals.
Half are detained under ‘civil’ proceedings with no criminal action against them.
Staggeringly, a further 65 are languishing in high security hospitals Broadmoor, Ashworth and Rampton. Twenty are being held having committed no crime.
They include 30-year-old Adam Downs who, like Josh, has autism and learning disabilities and has spent half his life locked away in Rampton, Notts.
He shares meal times and a TV room with some of Britain’s worst serial killers, including nurse Beverly Allitt and mass murderer Bruce Lee who killed at least 11 in arson attacks.
Adam has not committed any offence but remains in Rampton because authorities have not been able to facilitate a move into social care because of his complex needs.
His mum Alison Rodgers, 60, said: “Adam has spent almost 16 years there and he’s frightened.
“It’s a secure centre and there are guards everywhere, but everyone is treated the same and he mixes with all the inmates – or patients as Rampton calls them – at meal times, in the TV room and during activities.
“I can’t ever settle. I don’t rest because I can’t sleep and I’m constantly worrying about my son. He’s not a risk to the public yet is continually sectioned because there’s nowhere else for him to go.”
The Government pledged to reduce the number of people with autism and learning disabilities in mental health hospitals by March next year.
But analysis from the charity Mencap, which has been instrumental in calling for change, reveals it is four years off target.
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Handcuffed and sent 100 miles from family
Josh, of Halsham, East Yorks, has a rare genetic condition called ATR-X Syndrome which causes an intellectual learning disability.
He went to a special school, loved playing with Lego, gardening, swimming and making crafts with mum Sara, 38, and dad Garry, 54.
Sara said he was a “naturally happy boy” but his teenage years were “fraught” as he struggled with hormones.
Yet he remained close to siblings Callum, 17, Tommy, 10, Harper, six, and four-year-old Marc.
In October 2021, the family were caring for Sara’s grandmother Margaret Smith – who died last April with dementia – and Sara asked for some respite care for Josh as she also looked after his four siblings.
He was placed with a carer in Hull but became distressed at being separated from his family, who were just 20 miles away.
When he started to wreck things in the house, he was sectioned for assessment.
Neither a danger to himself or anyone else so far, Josh spent a further month in Hull before he was transferred 100 miles away to the Breightmet Centre in Bolton.
Sara said: “We were told Josh would be assessed and the section would last between three to six months.
“Josh had no idea what was going on and apparently, he arrived at the hospital in handcuffs.
“He only has the mind of a three-year-old so for him, he can’t understand why these strangers are taking him away, or why he’s being punished.”
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Bruises and scratches
In a series of distressing video and phone calls from the centre, Josh alleged that staff were emotionally abusing him, refusing to help him tie his shoelaces and continually untying them when he finally managed it.
He told his parents staff used force to restrain him and pictures of Josh from the time show him with marks across his face and neck.
Sara said: “Josh was begging me for help, begging me to bring him home. But once he’d been sectioned it was out of my hands.
“It was so awful. I couldn’t sleep and had to go on antidepressants.”
Josh was begging me for help, begging me to bring him home. But once he’d been sectioned it was out of my hands.
Sara Standish
The Breightmet is under threat of closure after a watchdog found staff were “laughing at people they were supposed to be looking after” and used a “disproportionate level of restraint.”
A report from the Care Quality Commission last year said Brieghtmet patients “were not protected from abuse” and a further audit last month says it is still ‘inadequate’ in terms of being safe, effective, caring and well-led.
Sara fought to get her son into the community and in March last year he was given a caravan with three carers by East Riding District Council.
But he was quickly moved when the authority realised it was next to a cliff Josh could have inadvertently fallen off.
He was then given a room at the Travelodge in Hull but was unable to cope with being cooped up.
By summer he was placed – again under section – in Cedar Vale Hospital in Nottinghamshire but it shut in November last year.
Since then, Josh has been at another home in the same area called Sherwood Lodge.
Social workers at East Riding say he is ready for discharge but there is a lack of suitable placements across the UK.
Sara said: “He’s well cared for at the hospital but he’s miles from home and we hate him being locked away. He’s no reason to be there because his social workers have said he’s ready for discharge.
“They won’t allow Josh home because they say he’s a safeguarding risk to his siblings – even although he lived with them for years.
“My son deserves a normal life. I want him to come out of hospital and go into education, an apprenticeship.”
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Moving targets
The Care Quality Commission warns that keeping people like Josh and Adam in institutions is wrong, saying it “often increases distressed behaviour” – which is then used as justification to keep them in institutions.
After the Winterbourne View scandal – which exposed the horrific treatment of patients at a care home in 2011 – the Government pledged to move all inappropriately placed LDA people to community care ‘no later’ than 2014.
By 2015 the target was moved to closing 35 to 50 per cent of in-patient beds by 2019 and last year it was revised down again, to 50 per cent by 2024.
But analysis by Mencap shows they are four years off target and there will be an estimated 1,920 people locked away on deadline day – 475 more than the Department of Health promised.
The average stay is more than five years despite a Government target of 32 days.
Dan Scorer, head of policy at Mencap said: “This is about more than numbers – it’s about people being robbed of their dignity and countless families being left in a state of absolute distress.
“We hear time and time again about young adults like Josh losing years of their lives to the system when there’s no need for them to be locked away.
“Josh hasn’t been sectioned because he’s a danger to himself or society – it’s because there isn’t the right support available for him and the Government hasn’t provided enough funding or invested in the right care for people with learning disabilities and autistic people.
“Josh is allowed unsupervised leave with his family and the local authority have agreed he is ready for discharge, so why is he still being locked away in a hospital and separated from his family?”
Last night a spokesperson for ASC Healthcare, which runs Breighmet in Bolton, said: “Providing safe and high-quality care to suit the often-complex needs of our patients is our absolute priority and we investigate any concerns raised by our service users and their families thoroughly and where required with the Local Safeguarding Team and the Police to ensure all individuals under our care are being looked after and any issues addressed and improvements made where necessary.”
A spokesperson for East Riding of Yorkshire Council said: “Josh is under the joint care of the Local Authority and the NHS.
“Jointly we are exploring every avenue available, in the best interests of Josh, for his care moving forwards.”
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