19.03.14
No home date in sight for many learning disability patients
Nearly 2,000 patients with learning disabilities, autism and ‘behaviour that challenges’ do not have a transfer date in place informing them when they may go home, according to data released by NHS England.
The first set of quarterly data prompted by the Winterbourne View Concordat, aimed at providing better care for this patient group, revealed that the current position is that out of a total 2,577 patients, 260 have a transfer date of which 172 are before 1 June 2014.
Jane Cummings, chief nursing officer for England, said: “Even though many of these patients have complex needs, they deserve a transfer date and to know when they will be returning home. Therefore, it is very important that we collect and publish this information so the public are aware of the progress being made in their local area. We need to be open and transparent without breaching patient confidentiality.”
Of the 1,932 patients without a transfer date, the data returns show that the reason why a large percentage of these people do not have a date set is due to clinical decisions (1,108), as many of these people have very complex needs.
NHS England said: “Some may be too ill or possibly a danger to themselves or the public. Some patients might have treatment orders or be detained due to Ministry of Justice order.
“However, NHS England recognises that more progress needs to be made to help more of these people move out of in-patient care into the community.”
Following the data release, NHS England has said for people without a transfer date it is attempting to establish who should be ‘appropriately’ helped to move to community-based settings; and who, due to the complexity of their needs, requires on-going in-patient care. Although it did note that ‘ultimately’ these are decisions for clinicians to make with the full engagement of patients, their families, carers and advocates.
Each of the 211 CCGs and 10 NHS England Area Teams responsible for specialised commissioning of secure mental health and child and adolescent mental health services submitted information, and the data published was the position as of 31 December 2013.
Bill Mumford, director of Winterbourne View Joint Improvement Programme, said: “We are a long way adrift of where we want to be but the data has achieved its purpose: to provide transparency and hold us all to account.”
Tell us what you think – have your say below or email us directly at [email protected]