The Huntercombe Group

The Huntercombe Group is a specialist health provider in the United Kingdom operated by Four Seasons Health Care, it has 56 hospitals and specialist centres located throughout England and Scotland. It specialises in specific areas of health including: eating disorders, mental health and specialist brain injury services.

Patients are funded largely by the NHS and Local Authorities and, since the changes in NHS commissioning, provides some of its services under the NHS England Contract.

In 1998, Crestacare was acquired by Four Seasons Healthcare and The Huntercombe Group was born. This included Huntercombe Brain Injury Centre in Murdostoun, Scotland; Huntercombe Hospital Maidenhead; Frenchay Brain injury Centre; and Blackheath Brain Injury Centre. At this point the company operated 134 beds. in 2004 it had a total of 1426 beds.

Linden House is a Huntercombe assessment and treatment unit (ATU) in the East Riding. Stephanie Bincliffe, who had a learning disability and autism, was placed there when she was 18 and kept in a padded room where she had little or no fresh air or exercise for almost seven years until her death. She gained ten stone during her time in the unit, becoming morbidly obese and yet she had no independent access to food. Some of the evidence at the inquest into her death criticised the hospital’s management of her physical health and obesity. It was alleged that hospital staff failed to act in her best interests regarding her weight gain, contrary to the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. However, the inquest into the death of Miss Bincliffe found there was no evidence of neglect and that her weight could not have been easily managed due to her severe autism and the level of self-harming which would have resulted from any attempt to alter her diet or get her to exercise more. Furthermore, due to a pre-existing heart condition (which ultimately proved fatal) surgery was not an option.