Muckamore Abbey Hospital inquiry to hear 'harrowing stories'

A lawyer acting for a group of relatives of Muckamore Abbey Hospital patients has told a public inquiry it is "an important day for them".

Conor Maguire QC warned there would be "harrowing stories" of patients and their families' experiences recounting painful memories of mistreatment.

"These patients were abused or were provided with sub-standard care within their care environment," he said.

"A place in which they should have felt secure.

"And such abuse, whatever its form, took place without reasonable or appropriate scrutiny being brought to bear.

"The patients and their families and their carers, as has been acknowledged, were let down.

"The patients themselves, by virtue of their disabilities, were often without a physical voice or the means to communicate to a caring third party about the abuse they suffered or were suffering."

He told the inquiry that a woman whose adult brother was a patient at Muckamore would be giving evidence about how he was assaulted and mistreated in the mid 2010s.

A number of staff were suspended as a result.

He said the sister of this patient recorded in her written statement: "He was not the same after the incidents.

"He became withdrawn and depressed. He was put on anti-depressants.

"He enjoyed vocalising when he was happy, but stopped vocalising at all. He would sit in his bedroom looking down. He never smiled, he didn't engage with others."

Mr Maguire said relatives and carers of patients were not listened to when they brought issues to the fore.

"There remains anger and frustration that, but for CCTV footage becoming available after having emerged in 2017, these matters that are the subject matter of the inquiry would not be in the public domain and action would not have been taken," he said.

The inquiry began earlier this week.

It aims to establish what happened between residents and some members of staff, to examine management's role and ensure that such abuse does not happen again at the hospital or any other institution.

It will resume on Monday.