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Immediate action was promised by ministers following a damning indictment of social work  in the Scottish Borders, writes Maggie Wood.

Peter Peacock minister for education and young people, responded to a report into the serious abuse of four people with learning difficulties by saying that he had never come across “a more appalling and harrowing case than this”.

Two separate reports by the Social Work Services Inspectorate (SWSI) and the Mental Welfare Commission (MWC) conclude that failures at every level allowed four people with learning difficulty to be seriously abused and neglected over a period of 30 years.

The case involves a woman with learning difficulties, previously referred to as Miss X, who was admitted to hospital in March 2002 having suffered extreme levels of physical and sexual abuse.

Although only one woman was at the centre of media attention, three other people are now known to have suffered serious sexual abuse and physical neglect.
 
Peacock said: “Over 30 years a catalogue of failures in social work and health services in the Borders allowed three people to be seriously sexually abused, and another to be seriously neglected.”
 
He added: “The report tells a depressingly familiar tale which resonates with the findings of all too many inquiries down the years into child abuse cases.”

He pledged immediate and wide ranging action, which will include new inspection arrangements and a joint inspection regime for learning difficulty services. He has also asked the Scottish Social Services Council to decide whether in the light of the report, any members of staff are fit to be registered as social workers.

Peacock has also pledged to take a fundamental look at social work in Scotland: “Social work legislation dates back to the sixties.

"Today marks a watershed in the way we think about social work. We will take whatever actions are necessary to ensure, as far as is humanly possible, that Scotland’s vulnerable citizens are not let down in this way again.”