The number of people with learning disabilities in hospital placements has remained virtually unchanged for six months despite a national push to move them into community settings. The latest Health & Social Care Information Centre figures for England show there were 2,600 inpatients with learning disabilities at the end of August, almost unchanged since March 2015 when the number was 2,640.
The lack of change in the figures comes despite the work of the government’s Transforming Care programme introduced in 2012 in the wake of the Winterbourne View abuse scandal with the express goal of reducing the use of inpatient care for people with learning disabilities and/or autism and additional mental health needs.
The original target of ending inappropriate hospital placements by June 2014 was widely missed, forcing a reassessment of the programme in the latter part of last year. Now, expectations are more modest. NHS England, which is leading on the programme, has a target of reducing inpatient numbers by 10% on the 1 April 2015 figure.
Rob Greig, chief executive of the National Development Team for Inclusion and the former government learning disability director, said the lack of progress raises questions about whether the focus of the Transforming Care programme has been right. “The rhetoric from a national level has been about what we do about the 2,600 or so people who are in these units and how there must be services planned to get those individuals out,” he said. “That’s true, but it completely misses the point that people find themselves in these services because of the failure of local community based services in the first place.”
For more information: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2015/10/04/number-learning-disabled-people-hospital-care-remains-stubbornly-high/?cmpid=NLC|SCSC|SCNEW-2015-1007
Comment – Autism diagnosis crisis
“People on the autism spectrum and their families know what it’s like to wait. On average, people wait more than two years from asking to be assessed for autism to actually getting a diagnosis.
But at the moment, the health service just isn’t aware of all those people and families waiting. The Government and NHS England could tell every local area in England to keep a record of how long people wait. There are clear guidelines for every NHS area on how to track waiting times for hip operations, gynaecological appointments and plastic surgery. But not for autism assessments.
Today at The National Autistic Society we are asking for something very simple. We want autism diagnosis waiting times to be measured and published in the same way that the NHS measures and publishes all this other information.”
Full article: http://www.autism.org.uk/get-involved/campaign-for-change/campaigns-in-england/autism-diagnosis-crisis/jane-harris-blog.aspx