UK NPM Statement: Muckamore Abbey Hospital Inquiry

The Muckamore Abbey Hospital Inquiry’s report was published one week ago.

The UK NPM acknowledges, with sorrow, the suffering that it reveals, and the grave issues raised by its findings. Those findings remind us that those deprived of their liberty on the grounds of mental health or mental capacity are among the most vulnerable people that the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture was designed to protect.

The need for effective monitoring to prevent cruel and degrading treatment in all places where people are, or may be deprived of their liberty, including in hospitals and residential care settings, is clear. The UK NPM Secretariat works with all NPM organisations to promote international human rights standards in scrutiny practices and expectations. We will work together to review the findings from this Inquiry and identify the lessons that can be learned for monitoring all places of deprivation of liberty across the UK. We are currently working with the health and care regulators in all four UK nations to share best practice and ensure alignment with standards set by the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture and the Muckamore Abbey Inquiry report will assist in that work.