The Belfast Trust has for the first time admitted it adopted an “adversarial attitude” towards both families and a public inquiry into the abuse of some of Northern Ireland’s most vulnerable patients. A three-page apology has now been issued to family members who took part in the Muckamore Abbey Hospital abuse inquiry - a move that a key campaigner said has been “wrung out” of the organisation after years of stonewalling. Read more: tinyurl.com/47tc43a7

Muckamore Abbey Hospital in Co Antrim, run by the Belfast Trust, provided care for adults with severe learning disabilities and mental health needs. The facility is at the centre of reports of widespread abuse of vulnerable patients by staff. The abuse included physical assaults that left some patients with broken bones, mental cruelty, excessive use of medication that left some patients “zombified,” and patients being locked away in “seclusion” as punishment. Read more: tinyurl.com/mt9e5bmb