Care services for people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour: report by the Comptroller and Auditor General

Author:
NATIONAL AUDIT OFFICE
Publisher:
National Audit Office
Publication year:
2015
Pagination:
51
Place of publication:
London

This report examines the challenge faced in delivering key commitments in the Winterbourne View Concordat, the extent to which these have been achieved, and the barriers to transforming care services for people with learning disabilities. It concludes that the Government did not meet its goal of transferring by 1 June 2014 all people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour, for whom it was appropriate, from mental hospitals into the community. In December 2012, when agreeing the Concordat, the scope and the quality of data on patients with learning disabilities was poor and as a result the government underestimated the complexity and level of challenge involved in meeting its commitments. In addition, as funding did not follow the patient, there was no financial incentive for local areas to bring patients home. The report suggests that joint work between health and social care commissioners is vital to make discharges from mental health hospitals sustainable and acknowledges that developing robust community services for people with a learning disability and challenging behaviour takes time. It sets out three challenges faced by the government in improving the care for people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour. First, to determine the most appropriate place for people's assessment and treatment. Second, to reduce the number of people with learning disabilities in inappropriate settings. And third, to create a sustainable system that minimises the need for inpatient care settings. (Edited publisher abstract)

Content type:
research
Links:
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Series name:
HC 1028
ISBN print:
9781904219675

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