According to a new report, patients with learning disabilities in private homes face double the caches of receiving unsafe and poor quality treatment than within the NHS.

The report said that only about a third of the private hospitals and homes that are inspected, offer acceptable level of care to the people compared to two thirds of NHS institutions in the country. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) cited the example of a person who has been in a assessment and treatment centre for 17 years even as the temporary system is only meant for a few months stay.

The findings emerged after investigations that were launched following the Winterbourne View care scandal in 2011, in which BBC's Panorama showed care home staff appearing to taunt and abuse the vulnerable adults.

The employees of the care home in Bristol owned by Irish investors, JP McManus, Dermot Desmond and John Magnier have been charged with with ill treatment and neglect of patients.

The police investigations were initiated after a BBC Panorama programme exposed patients being held down, slapped, mocked and doused in water at the Winterbourne View home.

The BBC report resulted in a British Department of Health investigation as well as another investigation by the Nursing and Midwifery Council. The Nursing and Midwifery Council had suspended two nurses until further investigations.

Out of the total 145 homes inspected, about half did not meet basic care or welfare standards. Investigators were also concerned over the use of restrained in a fourth of all the institutions inspected. Privately run homes which charge as much as £3,500 a week per resident were twice as likely to have failed as NHS units, the report concluded.