03.01.12
Disabled patients’ deaths could be avoided – Mencap
The NHS has been accused of causing or contributing to the deaths of 74 patients with learning disabilities over the last ten years.
A Mencap inquiry blamed poor care, mistakes in hospitals and staff failure to provide adequate treatment.
The health ombudsman, Ann Abraham, has already ruled that four of the cases highlighted were avoidable deaths, and there were serious failings in eight other cases, including patients being denied basic care and medication and the failure to diagnose serious illness in patients with learning disabilities.
David Congdon, Mencap’s head of campaigns and policy, told the Guardian: “These cases are a damning indictment of NHS care for people with a learning disability. They confirm that too many parts of the health service still do not understand how to treat people with a learning disability and they are an appalling catalogue of neglect and indignity. As a result of institutional discrimination in the NHS, people with a learning disability are dying when their lives could be saved.”
Care services minister Paul Burstow said: “This Government is committed to improving the health of people with learning disabilities. We share Mencap’s concerns that some people with learning disabilities are not receiving the high quality health care that they should expect.”
The charity Mencap is conducting an inquiry to investigate deaths of all patients with learning disabilities in five primary care trust areas in South West England to identify where improvements can be made. Recommendations will be made to ministers in 2013.
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