Doctors say patients with a learning disability receive poorer care

Almost half of doctors and a third of nurses say that people with a learning disability receive a poorer standard of healthcare than the rest of the population, according to a survey published by learning disability charity Mencap to launch its new campaign, Getting it right.

Mencap’s Death by indifference(ii) report in 2007 highlighted six cases of people with a learning disability who died unnecessarily in NHS hospitals. Since then the charity has received more accounts of tragic cases from families and carers.

Mencap developed a charter with a number of the Medical Royal Colleges which spells out the adjustments that healthcare professionals need to make to their working practices when treating someone with a learning disability. The charity now wants health trusts to sign up to its Getting it right charter(iii) to stop indifference and make these rights a reality for patients with a learning disability.

The survey of over 1,000 healthcare professionals also found that:

• almost half of doctors (45%) and a third of nurses (33%) also admitted that they had personally witnessed a patient with a learning disability being treated with neglect or a lack of dignity or receiving poor quality care.
• nearly four out of ten doctors (39%) and a third of nurses (34%) went as far as saying that people with a learning disability are discriminated against in the NHS.

By law, all healthcare professionals must ensure people with a learning disability have access to equal healthcare(iv) by making reasonable adjustments if necessary. But today’s survey results also reveal that:

• more than a third of health professionals (35%) have not been trained in how to make reasonable adjustments for patients with a learning disability, which can often mean the difference between life and death more than half of doctors (53%) and over two thirds of nurses (68%) said they needed specific guidelines on how care and treatment should be adjusted to meet the needs of those with a learning disability.

Mark Goldring, Mencap’s chief executive, said: “Healthcare professionals have recognised they need more support to get it right when treating people with a learning disability. Mencap’s Getting it right campaign sets out to ensure that ignorance and discrimination need never be the cause of death of someone with a learning disability.

“Our charter sets out a standard of practice and will make health trusts accountable to people with a learning disability, their families and carers. The fact that so many healthcare professionals recognise the gaps in their own training and the need for specific guidelines for treating people with a learning disability, shows the need for urgent action before more people suffer. We want hospitals and health trusts to sign up today.”