AN NHS nurse claims that her colleagues at a secure psychiatric ward in England broke a patient’s neck by violently restraining him.

The 36-year-old man, who suffered from learning difficulties, was then left lying in agony in his own faeces and urine for two days.

Four NHS staff, who are claimed to have held a grudge against the patient, believed that he was “putting it on.”

Doctors finally intervened and took him to hospital, where they found his top two vertebrae were broken. The man was paralysed for two years.

The whistleblower also claims that colleagues asked her to help cover up the incident, but instead she quit her job in disgust.

The shocking episode is said to have taken place six years ago at an NHS ward in the south of England.

The whistleblower, who made the allegations in an interview with the Mail on Sunday newspaper, was a senior mental health team leader who worked in the NHS for over a decade.

“I was supposed to say it was an accident and there had been proper restraint methods used,” the nurse said. “I refused, so they made it impossible for me to work and I quit.”

She described NHS secure psychiatric wards as “horrific” and “barbaric,” alleging that the mental healthcare system “is simply geared to abuse.”

The nurse said that the violent incident was not an isolated case and that patients were frequently abused and bullied at NHS secure units and “short-stay” assessment and treatment units (ATUs).

“I have worked in more than 10 of these places and I wouldn’t put my dog in one. They should be bombed,” she said.

“Everything is locked, there is lots of seclusion and restraint when six adults push someone on the floor. It’s horrible.

“If someone shows signs of challenging behaviour, they are secluded, which is awful,” she said. “Imagine being placed in a room 6ft by 6ft with a plastic mattress and no access to a toilet unless a full restraint team accompanies you.”

The use of restraint in ATUs rose by 50 per cent from 2016 to 2017, according to data obtained by the BBC.

The whistleblower warned that patients with autism were particularly unsuited to the “noise and chaos” of NHS secure units.

NHS England had not responded to the Star’s request for comment by the time of going to print.