Patients with learning difficulties get a poor deal in Britain

Dec 3 2007

The government's health watchdog in Britain, the Healthcare Commission says patients with learning difficulties receive standards of care which are well below what should be expected of modern healthcare services.

The Healthcare Commission says even in the best cases, the safety and quality of care given to patients with learning difficulties were substandard and sweeping changes are needed.

The commission's chief executive, Anna Walker says care is not personalised and living environments and activities are few and far between.

The commission's review has condemned poor planning of care, sub-standard staff training, widely varying procedures and a lack of management scrutiny across England.

Inspections were carried out at 154 NHS and independent organisations supporting more than 4,000 people with learning difficulties; staff were given 24-hours notice that inspectors would be visiting.

The review was prompted by cases of abuse and neglect of learning disability patients found at Sutton and Merton Primary Care Trust and Cornwall Partnership NHS Trust; no evidence of any physical abuse was found.

The inspectors referred six services to local authorities because of concerns about the care of individuals or overall standards of care.

Though no other situation was found like the one found in Cornwall, the report paints a bleak picture of services for people with learning difficulties.

The report says such services are regularly neglected and too often old-fashioned and institutional.

Examples of poor care across the board cited a lack of regard for human rights, people left for hours with no meaningful activity and more than 80% of services using drugs to control challenging behaviour with insufficient evidence this was the best approach.

One in five services were in need of redecoration and some visits revealed poor health and safety arrangements, including blocked fire escapes.

Anna Walker says it was not a question of funding, but more one of poor leadership, poor training and the lack of a framework for measuring how well services performed.

Around 169,000 people with learning disabilities in England access services provided by the NHS and local authorities.

Care Services Minister Ivan Lewis said any mistreatment was unacceptable.