Charities warn that report reflects "serious concerns about poor practices at specialist assessment units."

Thursday 08 December 2011

Learning disability charities Mencap and The Challenging Behaviour Foundation have responded to the Care Quality Commission's initial report from its review into services for people with a learning disability. They have warned that the report reflects "serious concerns about poor pratices at specialist assessment units".

Learning disability charities Mencap and The Challenging Behaviour Foundation issue joint response to Care Quality Commission (CQC) report

“While these are just the first reports from the CQC’s review of services for people with a learning disability, they reflect our very serious concerns about poor practices at specialist assessment units, like Winterbourne View, for people with a learning disability. It is unacceptable, though unfortunately not unexpected that 4 of the 5 services are not fully compliant with essential quality and safety standards.

The report strongly illustrates that current safeguarding for adults with a learning disability is not fit for purpose. Mencap and The Challenging Behaviour Foundation are calling for the Government to speed up placing Adult Safeguarding on a statutory footing, so that all agencies involved are forced to take this seriously.

It is also inexcusable that the reports reveal a lack of understanding about what safe, person-centred care looks like when we know there is a lot of clear guidance on this.

We expect that all the reviews post-Winterbourne will provide a strong justification for moving away from institutional care to local services for local people. It is crucial the Government then does all it can to drive these changes through and thereby reduce the likelihood of such abuses happening again.” 

ENDS

For more information please contact Pasca Lane on 0207 696 6017 or email pasca.lane@mencap.org.uk

Notes to editors

• About Mencap

There are 1.5 million people with a learning disability in the UK.Mencap fights on their behalf, and on behalf of their carers and families, to change laws and improve services and access to education, employment and leisure facilities, supporting thousands of people with a learning disability to live their lives the way they want. 

We are also the largest service provider of services, information and advice for people with a learning disability across England, Northern Ireland and Wales. See www.mencap.org.ukfor more information. 

• About learning disability

A learning disability is caused by the way the brain develops before, during or shortly after birth. It is always lifelong and affects someone's intellectual and social development. It used to be called mental handicap but this term is outdated and offensive. Learning disability is NOT a mental illness. The term learning difficulty is often incorrectly used interchangeably with learning disability.

The Challenging Behaviour Foundation

Behaviour can be described as challenging when it is of such an intensity, frequency or duration as to threaten the quality of life and/or the physical safety of the individual or others and it is likely to lead to responses that are restrictive, aversive or result in exclusion.

The Challenging Behaviour Foundation provides information, support and training around challenging behaviour associated with severe learning disabilities, and leads the ‘Challenging Behaviour National Strategy Group’ which seeks to influence policy and practice nationally on behalf of individuals who challenge and their families.

‘Severe learning disability’ is a developmental disability meaning the individual has a significantly reduced ability to learn new skills. Individuals with severe learning disabilities typically have very limited communication skills, often non verbal, and need help with daily living skills such as eating and dressing. Challenging behaviour shown by individuals with severe learning disabilities may include aggression, self injury, disruptive and destructive behaviours, stereotyped behaviour, and is most often due to their lack of ability to communicate their needs.

The Challenging Behaviour Foundation was founded in 1997 by Vivien Cooper, parent of a son with severe learning disabilities and behaviour described as challenging. Today the Challenging Behaviour Foundation is in regular contact with over 4500 families and professionals across the UK.

There are an estimated 30,000 individuals in England with severe learning disabilities and behaviour described as challenging.

For more information visit www.challengingbehaviour.org.uk  or contact:

The Challenging Behaviour Foundation

Email: info@thecbf.org.uk

Telephone: 01634 838739