BREAKING: Greater Manchester mental health chief resigns after patient abuse scandal

The chief executive of a troubled mental health trust is resigning following claims that patients were being abused at a care facility.

Neil Thwaite has announced he will be stepping down from the top job at Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust (GMMH). The news comes after months of independent and internal investigations into the trust's operations.

Staff who were unequipped to be in senior management, a ‘combative management’ style, and a trust ‘believing its own propaganda’ were listed among reasons for shocking staff behaviour towards patients at the Edenfield Centre, ‘exposed’ by a BBC Panorama programme.

The Edenfield Centre is in the grounds of the former Prestwich Hospital and was the subject of a BBC Panorama programme that claims patients were abused. In the weeks following the episode, 30 staff were facing disciplinary action and a dozen were sacked soon after, the Manchester Evening News understands.

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Mr Thwaite became CEO of the huge trust in 2018 and will continue as CEO for the next few months, serving out full notice whilst the trust commences recruitment arrangements. GMMH is a sweeping organisation and provide large swathes of mental health care for residents of Greater Manchester both in and out of hospital.

Neil commented: “Following the awful failings highlighted at Edenfield and other challenges, the last six months have been incredibly difficult for everyone and through engaging with staff, service users, carers and stakeholders, we have worked on our plan to get the organisation on the right path for recovery.

“Now we have launched our Improvement Plan, which will be implemented over the next two years, I feel this is the