Teenage psychiatric patients told they are ‘pathetic and disgusting’

Stephanie was in Skye House for several admissions suffering from depression, from 2020 when she was 16.

She said she had been left with trauma from her time there.

“The nurses never really treated you with care or compassion,” she said.

“Instead of asking you what’s wrong, they just put you on the floor and inject you with medication.”

On one occasion Stephanie alleges she was assaulted by a staff member who became frustrated at her refusal to take a shower.

Stephanie said: “The nurse got angry with me.

“She’s then dragged me off the bed by my legs, and turned a shower on, and put me in the shower with my clothes on. And then just walked away and left.

“At the time I just thought it was normal. Everybody else was really getting the same kind of treatment.”

Jane Heslop is a retired NHS chief nurse who spent her career in child and adolescent mental health services and reviewed the BBC’s evidence.

“It’s abusive, it’s completely wrong,” she said.

“If that occurred as that young person described, it’s absolutely and completely unacceptable.”

Ms Heslop said that it appeared “some of these staff have lost some of their boundaries”.