It is not often that a TV programme moves you to tears, but last night's Panorama was one such show. Secret filming at Winterbourne View, a learning disability hospital in Bristol, exposed such shocking treatment of its residents that it almost defied belief. The routine abuse suffered by the residents at the hands of those who were supposed to care for them - including vulnerable people being repeatedly slapped, pinned down, dragged, teased and taunted - was, in some cases, nothing short of torture. Indeed, Joe Casey, the undercover reporter who filmed it admits that he is 'haunted' by what he saw. Aside from the individual human suffering exposed by the programme, it raises some uncomfortable questions for the learning disability hospital and care sector and the regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC). For all the work in recent years on Valuing People and the wider personalisation agenda it shows that people with learning disabilities can still receive shockingly bad treatment and that they sometimes still don't have a voice. All too often, the views of people with learning disabilities' are ignored or discounted as being 'unreliable' or just plain 'made up'. This has to change. People with learning disabilities need to know that their worries will be listened to - just like anyone else in society - and mechanisms need to be in place to ensure that that happens. There certainly need to be more training to help staff to listen effectively to people with learning disabilities, including those with communication difficulties. The Panorama programme also shows that the core vetting processes only weed out some people and should not be viewed as guaranteeing fitness for role. For instance, Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks only prevent those with convictions working with vulnerable people, not those who are unsuitable. Strong recruitment and employee monitoring policies need to be in place in both hospitals and care homes. Meanwhile, the CQC is being criticised for not picking up on the abuse in its inspections of Winterbourne View. Surely the time has come for the CQC to do more than just planned inspections. Hospitals and care homes are generally notified weeks in advance of an inspection, giving them ample time to hide any indications of malpractice. Staff will tend to be on their best behaviour when the inspector calls. An unannounced inspection - perhaps even an undercover inspection - is more likely to give a true reflection of what life is like in a care home and, in cases where abuse is happening, a greater chance of it being exposed. It seems that the CQC is coming round to this idea. In response to Panorama, the regulator has proposed a programme of risk-based and random unannounced inspections of a sample of the 150 hospitals providing care for people with learning disabilities, which care services minister Paul Burstow has accepted. But to my mind it should not be a sample but should cover all hospitals. A sample may still miss other Winterbourne View's - and there may well be others. Having said all this, we must not assume that cases like this reflect general practice standards across the sector. The majority of staff in learning disability hospitals and care homes are undoubtedly dedicated and provide high levels of care to people who live in those settings and help them to live the lives they want to. Working in learning disability services can be a tough call - especially when you're caring for people whose behaviour poses major challenges. But it can also be the most rewarding of jobs. The last thing we should do is to allow what is hopefully isolated bad practice to undermine the good work of the majority, or scare people off a career in the sector by imagining that bullying and abuse are par for the course. While those exposed in last night's Panorama should feel the full force of the law - and, if found guilty, be banned from working in hospital or care settings again - their behaviour should not be allowed to tarnish the whole sector.