Winterbourne View 'abuse' film led to rise in care quality calls

A Panorama reporter filmed residents being pinned down, slapped and taunted

The head of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has said the number of people coming forward with concerns increased following the Winterbourne View film.

After BBC Panorama uncovered evidence of abuse at the private hospital in Bristol the CQC admitted it had not acted swiftly enough on the concerns.

Commission chairman Dame Jo Williams told MPs they had received more than 100 calls in the last two months.

This compares with 200 calls throughout 2010.

Dame Jo told the Commons Health Select Committee: "I imagine it was because of Winterbourne View and being in the public domain.

"It's true to say we are still a relatively new organisation and so it may well have been for the first time people understood what the Care Quality Commission was, who we were and how to get hold of us."

Patients at Winterbourne View were transferred after the programme showed residents being pinned down, slapped and taunted. The hospital closed last Friday.

Patients at the unit, which is run by the firm Castlebeck, were filmed by an undercover reporter.

Castlebeck subsequently apologised and launched an internal investigation.

A number of people have been questioned by police and released on bail following the programme.

The government said a serious case review had been set for July.

Dame Jo has previously called the CQC's failure to follow up the reports of a whistleblower - a senior nurse at the home - an "unforgivable error of judgement".