A lot of people were shocked at the television report into the care hospital at Winterbourne View and the way in which people with learning difficulties were being treated there.  Today I went to a conference in Dorking to hear about the reviews which have been carried out and to learn from them what can be done to make sure that nothing like that happens in Surrey.

We heard from Margaret Flynn who carried out a serious case review at the hospital, from Debra Moore who runs a training and consultation company and who has now joined the Board of Castlebeck Care who were the owners of Winterbourne View, from Shelia Evans from the Department of Health and from Viv Cooper who has a son with severe learning difficulties and who has set up a charity which supports families of children and adults with severe learning difficulties and behaviour.  The way in which some of the staff at Winterbourne View behaved was chilling and I can only imagine the impact it had on people who could not protect themselves.

The other people who attended were made up from social care professionals, people who work in mental health care, police and fire officers and families of people with learning difficulties.  The discussion on the table where I was sitting was wide-ranging and very interesting but we all came to the conclusion that we need to do more to raise the profile of social care so that abuse like that which happened at Winterbourne View will never happen again.