Leading care sector figures call for lessons to be learnt on learning disability care failings

Commenting on the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) national report on the performance of hospitals and care homes in England where looking after adults with a learning disability, published yesterday, chief executive of the English Community Care Association (ECCA), Martin Green says:

“Whilst care homes formed just a small sample from the overall number of inspections which focussed on NHS and Independent hospitals, we recognise that lessons can be learned for all providers alongside commissioners and CQC itself. We were pleased to see that 63% of people were living in care homes that were compliant with both outcomes and expect that providers will want to follow up on the recommendations around care planning, activities, restraint and quality assurance. This cannot be done in isolation however and commissioners need to ensure they work in partnership with people, families and providers to recognise and promote good practice and address any failings.”

Martin Green continued:

“However, we must remember that caring is a complex and demanding work that requires empathy, compassion, skills and knowledge. Bringing together the findings of all 145 inspections will help providers in these roles of ensuring personalised care for people with learning disabilities. This is something that people themselves, their families, providers and CQC will monitor. We hope that equal attention will also be paid to monitoring the response of the NHS and councils to these recommendations to ensure action is taken to improve learning disability commissioning.”

A joint statement was also issued by learning disability charity ’s chief executive Mark Goldring and the Challenging Behaviour Foundation’s chief executive Viv Cooper, saying:

“One year on from Panorama’s undercover investigation into a private hospital for people with a learning disability, people continue to remain in large, out of town units for long periods of time, isolated and at risk of abuse and neglect.

“Action is needed to stop people with a learning disability and behaviour that challenges being sent away to these services.

“The government’s proposals on local action will not be enough to create the systemic change needed. We are looking for a direct commitment from government to put in place a strong, practical action plan with clear targets when it publishes its final review in September.”

Des Kelly OBE, executive director of the , also issued a statement of the report, as follows:

"The revelations that surfaced as a result of the Panorama programme into the private hospital - Winterbourne View - were truly shocking and they have, quite rightly, provoked a debate into the quality of care for people with learning disabilities. The CQC findings, drawn from 150 inspections, including in 32 adult social care services providing residential care, reveal a worrying high proportion of services which fall short of proper person-centred planning which involve individuals and their families in the design of care.

"The report makes specific recommendations for providers, commissioners and regulators. For providers and commissioners this includes a reminder of the need for appropriate quality assurance systems to be in place. The NCF has developed 'Quality First' as a framework for providing high quality and continually improving services and we will be working with our members to ensure that the lessons from this review are used to change practices."

Image: Martin Green of