Dawlish News
At least one maybe two have gone missing from Langdon again this week. Our children and elderly are being put at risk by these repeated lapses in security and we shouldnt have to put up with it. Either build a proper fence around it and treat it as the prison it really is, or close it down.
Bad management and poor security, nothing new here. I worked there and there were several escapees. I thought the new place which looks like alcatraz would be secure.
Not all of Langdon's patients are considered a risk to the public, they have different levels of security. If you're interested in knowing more here's a link:
What should we do with these poor people ? Put them down.
Its not there fault they are like they are.
Have a heart
The high security unit was the Butler Clinic which I think was pulled down and replaced with the new facility, Dewnans Centre which can hold up to 60 people.
No body wants to put them down, but the majority of patients are there on sections. It is a forensic hospital, and the high security unit houses patients who often have committed awful crimes. They cannot be helped if there are not enough staff to give them the help they need. It has always been a problem, low staffing levels affects patients and staff. It's a very difficult and stressful job, made worse if you know the staffing levels are dangerous. It is not acceptable to have patients absconding and out and about in a residential area.
Fannyann - given that you worked there, are you saying it's possible that the high risk patients have absconded? How long ago did you work there and is the security so bad that we should be worried?
There are definatley some in there that should be put down, like the chap who gouged his girlfriends eyes out for instance.
and what about the poor train driver when the last one jumped off the platform in front of his train.
I have also heard about the staffing issues and the main reasons for starting this post was to ask
a) what is going to be done about it
b) to any councillors - Why should we have to put up with it
Take it the Poilce helecopter overhead for most of the afternoon at the tax payers expense was connected with this latest escape,
I think to answer Dorian truthfully yes people should be worried, these are dangerous criminals who if not medicated can become unstable. What makes the situation worse is that not all of them actually escape, they are allowed out under some stupid human rights rules.
@ Fred.
re, Human Rights
Quite right Fred. It's a shame that the PC brigade and do gooders of this country don't give a thought about the human rights of their victims.
Carer/Fred - it's a mental health unit not a prison, surely that means there are elements to their personalities that are beyond their control? Is it right to judge all mental health sufferers on their actions alone?
That's all very well but how many time have we heard the phrase "We have learned some lessons from this", with regards to issues in these sort of establishments, when someone has escaped and have killed someone who is just going about their daily business. How many times has that phrase been heard on the news?
Far too many.
@Carer. Actually I don't share your fear. I only have to read the local paper to feel more in danger from those already at liberty than from a homicidal axe wielding maniac on the run from Langdon chancing upon me.
Out of interest have there been incidents in Dawlish involving a Langdon patient?
I am not 100% sure, but when the general public's safety is at stake, does it matter where these incidents happen?
This subject has come up before as I recall reading this FOI response. It includes all unauthorised absences to April 2013 even if the patients didn't leave the hospital grounds. I think they removed the revolving door after 2006.
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/160607/response/396604/attach/2/FOI%20RESPONSE.docx
and previous discussion on EOD
https://www.facebook.com/EODawlish/posts/662809350410893
Care Quality Report from April 2014
http://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/new_reports/AAAA0846.pdf
I am not prepared to give details of my employment there. But to my knowledge at least 4 patients escaped from the secure Butler unit. 2 paedophiles one would be serial killer. One patient tried to hold up a local bank, the list goes on. I had hoped security was improved. The recent incident when a female nurse was escorting a very dangerous man and was brutally attacked at sainsburys only goes to show poor risk assessments. I was brutally attacked in a so called low level unit leaving me with physical and mental disabiliites, hence my concern that nothing has changed.. The public does need to be aware that patients are allowed out on escorted leave with staff. You never know who is out and about in the town.
May I just add
1. most of us chose to live here after it was built
2. Depression is a form of mental health
IMO if you do not like something remove yourself don't keep moaning about it or stand up and help so that the situation improves.
Langdon lease helicopter hours every year its almost like having their own
So if we can believe our politicians that crime rates are genuinely down, and add to that only 50% of sentence lengths are served, can someone wise me up why the prisons are bulging with inmates?
Are police and justice simply more sucessful at catching and prosecuting or is there another factor at play here?
@fannyann - hmm, kind of fits with what a retired policeman once told me - '...if you knew how many dangerous people (predominantly men of course) were out there, you would never leave your home...'