Hospital inquiry calls for information to help with final report

The Muckamore Abbey Hospital Inquiry panel has called on those with personal experiences of resettlement from the hospital to come forward.

The panel will use any information given to help inform its final report.

The resettlement process, aimed at moving patients to community placements, has been a complex undertaking.

A missed June 2024 target hospital closure date was dependent on all the remaining patients successfully moving to agreed alternative accommodation placements in the community.

The panel wants to hear from patients, their relatives and carers involved in the process from 14 June 2021 to the present day, regardless of whether or not they have already assisted the inquiry.

Those willing to share information can do so through small group sessions before the panel; individual attendance before the panel in early June; or by providing a note of their experience to the panel.

The deadline for people to contact the inquiry is 25 April and can be done via the inquiry website.

The inquiry into what happened at the Antrim-based hospital, which provides facilities for adults for special needs, began in June 2022.

The final public hearing of the inquiry took place in early March.

A separate major police investigation began in 2017 after allegations of ill-treatment began to emerge.

Sitting for 120 days, the inquiry heard oral evidence from 181 witnesses.

It is due to publish its findings later this year.

It is thought to be the biggest criminal adult safeguarding case of its kind in the UK.