Statement in response to improvements made at Basildon and Tameside hospitals

Tuesday 29 June 2010

In response to the Care Quality Commission's announcements today that both Basildon and Thurrock NHS Trust and Tameside NHS Foundation Trust have made the necessary improvements for conditions on their registration to be lifted, Mark Goldring, Mencap's chief executive, comments:

"We welcome the progress made by Basildon and Thurrock NHS Trust and Tameside NHS Foundation Trust to improve the healthcare received by people with a learning disability. However, they must continue to demonstrate commitment to patients with a learning disability if real change is to be achieved. All possible steps must be taken to avoid more tragic and unnecessary deaths, and to ensure that patients with a learning disability aren't denied the care they deserve and need.

"Basildon and Thurrock NHS Trust has taken a positive step in signing up to Mencap's Getting it right charter but this is just the beginning of the process and not an end in itself. We recommend that every health authority makes this commitment to ensuring that future patients with a learning disability get good quality care and treatment."

Christine Paplabropoulos, whose daughter Tina died at Basildon & Thurrock Hospital in 2009, commented:

"I have already lost one child needlessly - Tina was failed at every stage of her treatment. It is heartbreaking to see your child in pain and no family should have to go through what we have. I need to know that my other daughter, who also has a learning disability, won't be treated with the same neglect and lack of dignity if she falls ill."

ENDS

For more information and to arrange an interview please contact Amy Edmunds on 020 7696 6937 or 020 7696 5414. Out of hours please call 07770 656 659.

Notes to editor

•  About Death by indifference

Mencap's Death by Indifference report, published in 2007, highlighted the stories of six people with a learning disability who died unnecessarily due to ignorance and neglect within the NHS. www.mencap.org.uk/deathbyindifference

• About Getting it right

Getting it right is a campaign run by a group of organisations to improve healthcare for people with a learning disability. People with a learning disability experience poorer health and poorer healthcare than the general population. Mencap has worked in partnership with a number of organisations to produce a charter for healthcare professionals, to help them work towards better health, wellbeing and quality of life for people with a learning disability.

• About Mencap

Mencap supports the 1.5 million people with a learning disability in the UK and their families and carers. Mencap fights 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 one of the largest providers of services, information and advice for people with a learning disability across England, Northern Ireland and Wales. See http://www.mencap.org.uk/ for 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.