I received a response from the Department of Health to my letter of concern about the abuse at Winterbourne View, as seen on Panorama. As well as expressing the horror which I felt at witnessing such awful behaviour, I wanted to point out how I feel that this was able to happen because the staff dehumanised those in their care. My view is that practice at Winterbourne is not the norm, it is an extreme case of general practice where care staff are not trained, encouraged or suitably re-imbursed to use empathy skills in their interactions with residents. The result can be that we forget that we are working with our fellow human beings. The response outlined the reviews and investigations now being carried out as a result of the Panorama programme and how there is £32 million provided by the government for Skills for Care. I am interested to find out how this money is spent.