Scandal of the dozens of Scots locked up for having autism or learning difficulties

Patients held up to 25 years, investigation says

MORE than 40 people with learning disabilities or autism have been living in hospitals in Scotland for at least a decade, according to an investigation.

One person has been in hospital for more than 25 years, and nine are held in the maximum security State Hospital at Carstairs, despite not having been convicted of any crime before they were admitted.

Fifteen patients have been in locked psychiatric wards or units for more than 20 years, and one individual is still in hospital despite being given the all-clear to be discharged nearly nine years ago.

Mental Health and Social Care minister Kevin Stewart called the findings of the BBC

‘Injected him in front of me’

Scotland Disclosure investigation ‘unacceptable’ and has pledged to get most of the patients home by March 2024.

The Scottish Government is also creating a national register as it has emerged that some of the people affected have been ‘lost’ in the system.

In total, 128 have been in hospital, away from their friends and families, for more than a year.

One man has been in the State Hospital for more than 17 years, and on average the nine people admitted without being convicted of a crime have been locked up there for eight and a half years.

The mother of one Carstairs patient told BBC Scotland Disclosure how her son’s behaviour has deteriorated since he was admitted and said she has now been told he is too high risk to be released.

Kyle Gibbon, 34, who has learning disabilities and autism, was at college and preparing to move into his own flat from an in-patient unit in Aberdeen when he was transferred to Carstairs in 2009.

He used to go home at weekends and enjoyed going bowling and trips to the cinema.

But when his mother, Tracey, went to collect him to show him his flat she was told he was not being allowed out and he was restrained while she waited with him.

She told Disclosure: ‘He became very emotional, upset.

‘He grabbed a hold of me and he went, “Don’t let me go”.

‘And the next thing I know, staff piled into this room. Took me down on the ground with Kyle, and... and injected him in front of me. I was horrified.’

Her son was accused of smashing up his room and assaulting a doctor, and the next time his mother saw him he was in Carstairs.

In 2016 he received a compulsion order from court for assaulting a nurse. It has special measures attached which mean he can be held indefi

‘A hospital is not a home’

nitely. Dr Anne Macdonald, the Scottish Government adviser on learning disabilities, told Disclosure: ‘People with learning disabilities shouldn’t be living in hospital. A hospital is not a home, and it’s a human rights issue to have a home and to be able to have a connection with your family.’

Mr Stewart added that he is planning a Bill to help tackle the problem and that £20million is being invested over the next two years.

He said: ‘It is vital that we get it right for individuals, because each day that they are away from their family, their friends and their communities, is a lost day.’

Disclosure: Locked in the Hospital, BBC One Scotland, at 8pm today.