It is, perhaps, no coincidence that this week's BBC Panorama report on the plight of young people with learning difficulties at a hospital in Bristol (Police investigate abuse at private care home, 1 June) should exactly coincide with the transmission of my film The Silent Minority 30 years ago. The government of the day's response to that film and the campaigning zeal of Anne Shearer, Maureen Oswin and Dr Gerry Simon was to close down most of the long-stay hospitals and move many of the residents into group homes. A humane and sensible decision.
However, my film focused on those residents who had (to use that ridiculous euphemism) "challenging behaviour". Part three of the film demonstrated that, with an imaginative care plan implemented by professionally qualified staff, most of these behaviours disappeared. They disappeared because these young people had been languishing in institutions that were no more than "holding tanks". Starved of stimulation, warmth and, yes, affection, looked after by staff with minimal or no qualifications and with no care plan, their behaviours were a desperate response to the empty hours. Winterbourne View charges the taxpayer £3,500 a week to provide a standard of care that is a public scandal for which the Care Quality Commission must shoulder the blame. If it had had the interests of the most vulnerable at heart it would have insisted that unless all care staff at that hospital each had at least a two-year diploma in their chosen field, the "hospital" would not receive a licence to operate.
Nigel Evans
Toula, Vava'u, Tonga
• We have seen a spate of reports about lack of standards and abuse of vulnerable people, primarily at private residential care facilities. There is no excuse for this and it is a wake-up call for all involved in delivering care – from commissioners to regulators to providers – to work together to ensure services are of a consistently high quality. Such reports will cause enormous concern to relatives of people receiving care and support, and to others considering care options for their families. But there are also many private and independent care providers in the sector providing high-quality services who will be concerned because they have been unfairly grouped in the public consciousness as not meeting standards.
Our organisations collectively represent thousands of members who are private and independent care providers and who consistently deliver excellent residential care. Many others do the same. The difference they make to the lives of vulnerable people should be acknowledged. We are committed to championing the excellent care they provide, and to use this as a driver so that excellence becomes the default standard in social care.
Sheila Scott National Care Association,
Martin Green English Community Care Association, Debbie Sorkin National Skills Academy for Social Care