End the abuse. Stop detaining people with learning difficulties in so-called 'Assessment and Treatment' institutions. Close them. Now.

The recent Panorama programme exposed in graphic and distressing footage, how staff members at Whorlton Hill psychiatric hospital, a so-called Assessment and Treatment Unit (ATU) perpetrated horrific and systematic mental and physical abuse on people with with learning disabilities and/or autism. It showed patients with learning difficulties being mocked,intimidated and restrained.  Before he stepped down last year, David Behan, Chief Executive of the CQC who took up his post in the wake of the Winterbourne View scandal, said with pride that during his tenure: "Care has got safer and quality has got better across the range of services we inspect". Nothing could be further from the truth. Currently there are still an estimated 2,245 children and adults in such in-patient units even though the government promised closures as long ago as 2011. Families are powerless against the system. The number of children has more than doubled to 240.  The average time in inpatient units away from home for people with a learning disability and/or autism is over 5 years and many have been detained in an ATU  for more than 10 years. THIS HAS TO END. NOW.