'She was so desperate, she swallowed a toothbrush'
Linda and Chris Hutchings' 27-year-old daughter lives in a secure unit in the East Midlands. She was sectioned, aged 14, after battling with an eating disorder and depression."In one of the hospitals [not the one she is currently in] she was locked in one room for nine weeks, and it was so awful for her because there was nothing apart from a telly on a high bracket on the wall."
Birmingham City Council, which is responsible for their daughter's care, also said it could not comment on individual cases, adding,"there are always safeguarding measures in place when somebody's liberty is limited due to illness or disability".Experts say the average placement cost of keeping one person in an ATU is more than £3,000 per week.
"They are like the Bedlam institutions in Victorian times," she said."This is a hidden horror. There have been 40 deaths in these units in 2015, nine of those were people under 35."A Department of Health spokesman said:"We are determined to reduce the number of people on the autism spectrum with learning disabilities in mental health hospitals, and significant investment in community support has already led to a 20% reduction.
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