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Police readiness for tackling hate crime against people with learning disabilities: areas for improvement and examples of good practice
- Authors:
- SIN Chih, SHIKH Sanah, KHANNA Mohini
- Journal article citation:
- Safer Communities, 11(3), 2012, pp.145-153.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
A number of high-profile cases of hate crime against people with learning disabilities have led to increasing concerns about the failure of police services to tackle the issues. This paper reports on research conducted for the ‘Stand By Me’ campaign which aimed to examine the extent to which police services are set up to deal with hate crime against people with learning disabilities. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives from 14 police services in England. In addition, key documents submitted by the police services were reviewed and a focus group with 8 people with learning disabilities was conducted. The findings are discussed under the following themes: infrastructure and set-up; understanding; data recording; and reporting. The findings indicate that many police services are committed to tackling hate crime against people with learning disabilities. A variety of individuals have responsibility for dealing with hate crime and accountability structures are often unclear. Many services do not have hate crime policies that deal specifically with people with learning disabilities, or even disabled people in general. More training is required to ensure staff are equipped to deal with the issues. Hate crime statistics are regarded as unreliable due to significant under-reporting. However, a few services have implemented interventions to encourage reporting through awareness-raising and multi-agency working.
Reasonably adjusted? Mental health services and support for people with autism and people with learning disabilities
- Authors:
- BATES Peter, TURNER Sue, NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT TEAM FOR INCLUSION
- Publisher:
- National Development Team for Inclusion
- Publication year:
- 2012
- Pagination:
- 65
- Place of publication:
- Bath
The law requires mental health services to make reasonable adjustments so that they stop discriminating against people with autism or learning disabilities. ‘Reasonably adjusted?’ describes the reasonable adjustments mental health services have put in place for people with learning disabilities and people with autism. It is organised in three sections, starting with a summary of the context. The second section follows a care pathway from first contact with primary care services through referral to specialist help and on to discharge, reporting on the adjustments made by individuals and organisations that are trying to provide high quality services to people and their families The third section: ‘Effective services in a flourishing community’ begins with a broad view of active citizenship and follows an organisational pathway. ‘Reasonably adjusted?’ offers practical examples and includes an easy ready summary. Its content forms the basis of a subsequent NDTi publication, ‘The green light toolkit’ (2013). (Edited publisher abstract)
Restriction on restraints in the care for people with intellectual disabilities in the Netherlands: lessons learned from Australia, UK, and United States
- Authors:
- ROMIJN Anita, FREDERIKS Brenda J.M.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 9(2), June 2012, pp.127-133.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The use of restraints in the care of people with intellectual disabilities in the Netherlands is regulated by the Psychiatric Hospitals Act. Physical or mechanical interventions may be used to avert aggression and danger to a client or his surroundings. The issue of restrictive practices has attracted considerable attention following a television documentary which revealed excessive use of mechanical restraints on an 18-year old youth. The aim of this article was to provide insight into legislation, protocols, and practices in other countries so as to make recommendations for policy on reducing the use of restraints in the Netherlands. Journal articles and policy reports on national policies and practices for the years 2000-11 were analysed for 3 countries: the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia. The findings showed that, although the use of restraints in the care for people with intellectual disabilities is internationally regulated by the criterion of ultimum remedium, policy is clearly not always in line with practice. Common elements in best practices designed to reduce the use of restraints include: strong leadership in care facilities based on national policy; trained staff; a strict monitoring system; and changes in attitudes on the use of restraints, with restraints being identified as treatment failure.
Learning difficulties and ethnicity: updating a framework for action: accessible summary
- Author:
- FOUNDATION FOR PEOPLE WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES
- Publisher:
- Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities
- Publication year:
- 2012
- Pagination:
- 7p.
- Place of publication:
- London
Learning Difficulties and Ethnicity – A Framework for Action was published in 2004. This easy read edition of the update draws attention to the continuing relevance of its key messages together with information on the priority areas from Valuing People Now. There is a simplified action plan for action that should be taken locally and how to track progress. The update will be of interest to a wide range of local people and agencies involved in identifying and addressing the needs of people with learning difficulties from BME communities, and will be of particular relevance for commissioners and providers in local authorities and other statutory agencies, as well as local providers, who all have duties to take certain actions. Learning Disability Partnership Boards, Local Involvement Networks and the new Health and Wellbeing Boards should also use the Framework to ensure progress is made locally and to hold the statutory bodies to account.
Learning difficulties and ethnicity: updating a framework for action
- Author:
- FOUNDATION FOR PEOPLE WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES
- Publisher:
- Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities
- Publication year:
- 2012
- Pagination:
- 38p.
- Place of publication:
- London
Learning Difficulties and Ethnicity – A Framework for Action was published in 2004. This update draws attention to the continuing relevance of its key messages together with information on the priority areas from Valuing People Now. There is a simplified action plan for action that should be taken locally and how to track progress. The update will be of interest to a wide range of local people and agencies involved in identifying and addressing the needs of people with learning difficulties from BME communities, and will be of particular relevance for commissioners and providers in local authorities and other statutory agencies, as well as local providers, who all have duties to take certain actions. Learning Disability Partnership Boards, Local Involvement Networks and the new Health and Wellbeing Boards should also use the Framework to ensure progress is made locally and to hold the statutory bodies to account.
Reaching out to people with learning disabilities and their families from black and minority ethnic communities
- Authors:
- POXTON Richard, et al
- Publisher:
- Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities
- Publication year:
- 2012
- Pagination:
- 32p.
- Place of publication:
- London
People with learning disabilities and their families from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities continue to experience inequalities in health and social care despite various efforts to improve engagement. The aim of the Reaching out to Families project was to find new ways of addressing this issue - with particular attention to the role of third sector organisations and the use of action learning techniques in order to identify examples of good practice. Four areas agreed to become ‘development sites’: two London boroughs and two English cities, all with very diverse populations. The project used a broad action learning approach, supporting participants to work together to solve real work-based problems, acknowledging and building on actions already being taken in each site. A number of themes were identified through analysis of the interviews with families and in-depth discussion about the issues: effective identification of the needs, concerns and aspirations of different local communities; making sure that people understand what’s available and how local systems work; getting to grips with ‘personalisation’; developing local responses with community organisations; a competent workforce; working together; and being able to measure the impact of policies and practices on different BME communities. This report focuses on these aspects.
Winterbourne View review: good practice examples
- Author:
- GREAT BRITAIN. Department of Health
- Publisher:
- Great Britain. Department of Health
- Publication year:
- 2012
- Pagination:
- 81p.
- Place of publication:
- London
Opened in December 2006, Winterbourne View was a private hospital owned and operated by Castlebeck Care Limited. It was designed to accommodate 24 patients in two separate wards, and was registered as a hospital providing assessment, treatment and rehabilitation for people with learning disabilities. It closed in June 2011 after the Panorama investigation. The government review found that Patients stayed at Winterbourne View for too long and were too far from home – the average length of stay was 19 months. Almost half of patients were more than 40 miles away from where their family or primary carers lived. There was an extremely high rate of ‘physical intervention’ – well over 500 reported cases of restraint in a fifteen month period. Multiple agencies failed to pick up on key warning signs – nearly 150 separate incidents – including A&E visits by patients, police attendance at the hospital, and safeguarding concerns reported to the local council – which could and should have raised the alarm. This good practice example document pulls together a number of good practice examples sent in by stakeholders and people who use services across England.
DH Winterbourne View review: concordat: programme of action
- Author:
- GREAT BRITAIN. Department of Health
- Publisher:
- Great Britain. Department of Health
- Publication year:
- 2012
- Pagination:
- 17p.
- Place of publication:
- London
Opened in December 2006, Winterbourne View was a private hospital owned and operated by Castlebeck Care Limited. It was designed to accommodate 24 patients in two separate wards, and was registered as a hospital providing assessment, treatment and rehabilitation for people with learning disabilities. It closed in June 2011 after the Panorama investigation. The government review found that Patients stayed at Winterbourne View for too long and were too far from home – the average length of stay was 19 months. Almost half of patients were more than 40 miles away from where their family or primary carers lived. There was an extremely high rate of ‘physical intervention’ – well over 500 reported cases of restraint in a fifteen month period. Multiple agencies failed to pick up on key warning signs – nearly 150 separate incidents – including A&E visits by patients, police attendance at the hospital, and safeguarding concerns reported to the local council – which could and should have raised the alarm. This concordat/agreement sets out a programme of action to transform services for people with learning disabilities or autism and mental health conditions or behaviours described as challenging. It sets out specific actions to which each organisation has committed to take forward within clear timeframes.
Winterbourne View review: concordat or agreement: programme of action: easy read version
- Author:
- GREAT BRITAIN. Department of Health
- Publisher:
- Great Britain. Department of Health
- Publication year:
- 2012
- Pagination:
- 36p.
- Place of publication:
- London
Opened in December 2006, Winterbourne View was a private hospital owned and operated by Castlebeck Care Limited. It was designed to accommodate 24 patients in two separate wards, and was registered as a hospital providing assessment, treatment and rehabilitation for people with learning disabilities. It closed in June 2011 after the Panorama investigation. The government review found that Patients stayed at Winterbourne View for too long and were too far from home – the average length of stay was 19 months. Almost half of patients were more than 40 miles away from where their family or primary carers lived. There was an extremely high rate of ‘physical intervention’ – well over 500 reported cases of restraint in a fifteen month period. Multiple agencies failed to pick up on key warning signs – nearly 150 separate incidents – including A&E visits by patients, police attendance at the hospital, and safeguarding concerns reported to the local council – which could and should have raised the alarm. This easy read version of the concordat/agreement sets out a programme of action to transform services for people with learning disabilities or autism and mental health conditions or behaviours described as challenging. It sets out specific actions to which each organisation has committed to take forward within clear timeframes.
Learning disabilities and BME communities: principles for best practice
- Authors:
- TONKISS Katherine, STAITE Catherine
- Publisher:
- University of Birmingham. Institute of Local Government Studies
- Publication year:
- 2012
- Pagination:
- 11p.
- Place of publication:
- Birmingham
Individuals from BME communities are often underrepresented in the uptake of learning disability services. The purpose of this briefing is to present some ideas for best practice in the effective delivery of learning disability services to users from BME communities. The briefing draws on the findings of qualitative research undertaken for a local authority seeking to improve the historically low uptake of these services by individuals from BME communities. The research examined the barriers to service use by individuals from BME communities and explored the scope for more collaborative and integrated approaches to commissioning for the delivery of more suitable learning disability services for BME and emerging communities. This briefing starts by briefly providing some broad findings from this research. It then uses the findings from the research to develop an approach to increasing the use of learning disability services by BME communities, and also increasing the involvement of those service users in the design and commissioning of services. It recognises that the best way to reach BME groups is through face to face contact and utilising existing contacts and networks to build up stronger relationships.