My name's Ann. I have a son, Simon, who's 40 years old now.
Simon: My name is Simon.
Ann: When Simon was
18 we were very lucky to get him into a small care home
with three others, which was in the next village
and where he lived for fifteen years
and was very much part of the community
Simon knows everyone in the area, he went to school here
and everyone knows Simon. So he very much belongs here
Then he was having
behavioural difficulties. They put on
an additional member of staff. When this was
proven to work, they requested from
the council that it was funded
just the few extra hours and
we were then told that Simon would need to go through an assessment process
before that could happen. We were told
that Simon would have to move to another care home
whilst this assessment was undertaken. We were extremely reluctant because he'd
been settled
for many, many years, but we acquiesced
under protest and Simon moved.
He was suddenly deemed by the doctor there
to be too dangerous to return home. They were having to restrain him
something that had never happened to Simon in his
life before. They were physically restraining him
numerous times a day and
they refused to allow him to come home. And at that point he was transferred to
another unit in Malborough. They were completely unable to cope with Simon
and he was sectioned and
sent to Winterbourne View. Simon spent 15 months in Winterbourne View.
It was an hour and a half away from us.
Visiting was difficult and so I saw him less and less frequently
We were
first alerted to
what was happening at Winterbourne View when Panorama contacted us
and it came as a complete
and total shock. We weren't permitted
when visiting Simon to actually go onto the ward
we were restricted to a parents room
or a visiting room. So we had no knowledge
of the things that had been occurring there.
We were extremely lucky that the house
where Simon had lived for many many years had a free
room. And they were
very happy, very happy, to have Simon home again.
The concern when Simon first came home was whether or not he'd be able to stay
in that placement
he was on a one-to-one during the day and it
enabled him - or does enable him - to live his own life
completely fully the way he chooses to do.
He's active; he's constantly out
rain or shine he's out shopping
on the buses, traveling. He has his own transport
and he just
has a wonderful time. Yes he does have fears about going back
I have no doubt that there are residual difficulties
from his time at Winterbourne View. He's definitely a changed person
but the security and
the care that he receives, and the love that he receives,
now he's home again, has helped enormously.
The staff have learnt to manage him
in an amazing way. They never restrain
they keep the training up to date. He's safe and the concerns are for the future
that if the funding is reduced
then that might be at risk and that's a huge worry
always as I get older.