Jonathan Geddes Glasgow and West reporter
No official regulator had the power to inspect Scotland’s biggest children’s psychiatric hospital during a seven-year period in which staff were accused of cruelty to patients, it has emerged.
Skye House in Glasgow was visited between 2017 and 2024 by advisory body the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland.
However, it did not have any enforcement powers.
The regulator Healthcare Improvement Scotland was only asked to start inspections by the Scottish government after dozens of patients told a Disclosure investigation that a culture of cruelty existed among staff.
Scotland’s two other inpatient adolescent mental health facilities, in Edinburgh and Dundee, were also not investigated by the regulator, the has learned.
The Scottish government said it was the responsibility of health boards to ensure the safeguarding of care standards at mental health facilities were in place.
The Disclosure documentary, which aired in February, heard from patients who were teenagers when they were admitted to the specialist NHS unit between 2017 and 2024.
They said some nurses called them “pathetic” and “disgusting”, while mocking their suicide attempts.
They said nurses quickly resorted to force, including physical restraint and dragging patients down corridors, leaving them bruised and traumatised.
In response to the programme, the Scottish government said ministers were concerned by the allegations, and that the Mental Welfare Commission (MWC) had visited the unit seven times since 2016.
However, the commission stressed these visits were not considered to be inspections – and one parent of a patient at the facility described them as “superficial”.
She told Scotland News that parents often felt their concerns were being dismissed by the commission.
The MWC said it had “few powers to order things to happen” but instead always relied on having “significant influence” with health boards to secure changes.
Skye House, which opened in 2009 at Glasgow’s Stobhill hospital, accepts children aged 12 to 18 who are considered to be at crisis point.
However, it had never been subject to any formal inspections until this year, as no body had the power to do so.
The Scottish government relied on there being oversight from the Mental Welfare Commission and health board, rather than inspections from the regulator, Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS).
It had not been asked to inspect mental health hospitals the way it would other services, such as facilities specialising in acute care.
On each of the MWC’s last three visits – in 2022, 2023 and 2024 – it met seven patients in the 24-bed facility, and reviewed the case notes of others.
However, many complaints raised by patients with Disclosure – including over-use of medication and sedative injections, being made to clean up their own blood from self-harming and being aggressively restrained by staff – do not feature in the commission’s reports.
Kirsten, whose daughter was a patient at Skye House, told Scotland News she spoke to the MWC during a pre-announced visit.
She said: “I expressed my concerns about lack of understanding [from staff] regarding autism. I received no feedback.
“From my own experience, parents’ concerns and opinions were dismissed due to our lack of medical knowledge.
“From what I can see these inspections are tickbox exercises, superficial and of little value.”
She said she had seen management fill the garden with bean bags and games when they knew visitors were coming.
“The young people didn’t get to use them due to lack of staff, so it was just for show,” she said.
The MWC said it would not comment on any named or identifiable cases but anyone with concerns should contact the commission directly.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde launched two inquiries into the allegations uncovered by the ‘s investigation.
A spokesperson said there had been a recent joint visit to Skye House from HIS and the MWC and the health board was awaiting recommendations.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde declined to give any further details about recommendations it had implemented.
In September 2018, the health board was fined £70,000 over the “foreseeable” death of a teenage girl at Skye House five years earlier.
In February this year, Mental Wellbeing Minister Maree Todd told the Scottish Parliament she had requested visits by Healthcare Improvement Scotland in response to the Disclosure programme.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton described the lack of inspections as an “absolute scandal”.
He said: “Ministers should review the governance arrangements that oversee mental health services in this country and ensure that the bodies involved have the right powers to investigate and hold services to account for how they treat young people.
“We cannot allow more kids to fall through the cracks.”
Responsibility of health board
Healthcare Improvement Scotland said it had been commissioned by the Scottish government to begin inspections of Scotland’s in-patient child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in February.
“This was to provide further independent assurance in the form of inspections and visits with the Mental Welfare Commission,” it said.
“We plan to inspect the three regional services, as well as the national facility.
“Our inspection and visit to Skye House is already under way and we will publish our report at the earliest opportunity.”
A Scottish government spokesperson said ministers had been clear about their concern regarding the Skye House allegations.
“Although there have been no formal inspections of Skye House between 2017 and 2024, the Mental Welfare Commission has provided regular assurance and visited the unit seven times since 2016, most recently in March 2024,” it said.
“We expect NHS boards to act on any recommendations made.
“Ultimately it is the responsibility of the health board, in this case NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, to ensure that they have the appropriate clinical governance and assurance processes in place to ensure effective care.”
