A compensation scheme has been agreed for patients who say they were subjected to physical and sexual abuse at a youth psychiatric facility in St Albans.
The Hill End Adolescent Unit was a residential psychiatric treatment facility for patients aged under 16. Open from 1969 to 1995, the unit was managed by the late Dr Peter Bruggen, a child psychiatrist who was known for a slightly more unconventional approach to treating children’s behavioural issues.
In 2017, law firm Leigh Day was approached by former patients who reported being abused and mistreated at Hill End.
They made allegations of excessive sedation violent restraint, sexual abuse and physical assault.
Leigh Day took the matter to Hertfordshire Constabulary, who conducted a three-year investigation into the allegations called Operation Meadow. Although police found that in some cases, children were given adult doses of sedative medication, the investigation did not result in any arrests or criminal prosecutions due to “insufficient evidence”. A former resident described this as a “kick in the teeth” to the BBC back in 2020.
Following Operation Meadow, Leigh Day launched its own investigation into the allegations of abuse at Hill End. Leigh Day’s lawyers heard multiple accounts of sexual assault and rape of patients by staff members while under the effect of sedation and of patients being removed from the dormitories at night to be sexually abused.
After putting its clients’ claims to lawyers representing Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Leigh Day has negotiated a compensation scheme for those who were unlawfully sedated and/or subjected to physical or sexual abuse.
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has also offered an apology for what Leigh Day clients experienced at Hill End.
The scheme, which came into effect on Wednesday, July 3, is open to all former patients of Hill End Adolescent Unit. Anyone who believes they may be eligible to make a claim under the scheme should contact Leigh Day’s Hill End team via email at Hillend@leighday.co.uk
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