I am struggling to convey the anger I am feeling...

MP TELLS OF SHOCK AT SCENCE OF 'ABUSE' IN SECRET FILM OF MENTAL HEALTH UNIT 

- PAUL BRITTON & NEAL KEELING

AN MP has spoken of incredibly upsetting scenes’ after the BBC claimed in a Panorama investigation that patients at a Greater Manchester NHS mental health unit were filmed being subjected to abuse’

Greater Manchester Police have opened an investigation codenamed Operation Crawton into allegations of mistreatment focusing on the Edenfield Centre, a mental heath unit for adults based within the grounds of the former Prestwich Hospital in Bury.

The M.E.N. understands the allegations involve 40 patients and 25 staff, and that more than a dozen staff have been suspended.

Patients at the unit were filmed being subjected to abuse, it’s claimed, with the BBC alleging the Panorama footage, which aired on Wednesday night, showed some being bullied, humiliated, sworn at and taunted.

The film also purports to show inappropriate use of restraint, according to experts, and faking of paperwork intended to ensure patient safety.

The footage is from an undercover Panorama reporter, who worked at the unit from March to June this year.

The BBC said experts who have reviewed the findings said that in one instance some staff acted like a gang, not a group of health care professionals: Footage, added Panorama, showed some staff mocking patients, who were also filmed on occasion slapping or pinching them.

Writing on Twitter in the aftermath of the programme Christian Wakeford, Labour MP for Bury South, spoke of incredibly _ upsetting scenes’ and vowed he would help anyone who needed it.