Minister visited Skye House just months before cruelty allegations surfaced

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today said that visits to Skye House, Scotland's biggest children's psychiatric hospital, appear to have ‘skimmed the surface’.

His comments come as a series of parliamentary questions revealed that the Scottish Government’s Minister for Mental Wellbeing visited the hospital just months before allegations of cruelty came to light.

Mr Cole-Hamilton asked the Scottish Government whether any official ministerial visit to Skye House had ever taken place. In response, the Minister for Mental Wellbeing indicated that she last visited Skye House on 4th September 2024. This was just five months before allegations of a culture of cruelty at the facility came to light.

The Mental Welfare Commission visited the facility on seven occasions, but failed to raise issues of abuse, neglect and cruelty which were subsequently revealed in a BBC Disclosure documentary.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said:

“I understand that no one ever wants to see mistreatment happen at these facilities, but the Scottish Government’s response to the Skye House allegations has been exceptionally poor.

“We now know that the minister visited Skye House just months before the allegations came to light. This was not an inspection, but it contributes to the sense that visits and reports all skimmed the surface.

“Liberal Democrats secured a parliamentary statement on Skye House, but at no point during that statement did the Scottish Government explain whether the Mental Welfare Commission is properly empowered to act in cases like these. They completely failed to explain why original allegations were missed. These should be basic questions for the government to answer.

“Patients and families need to have faith in the system. They deserve to know what safeguards are in place and what steps are being taken to prevent this horrific situation from ever happening again."