Today,
the government
The Government are the people who run the country. The Government decide how much
tax
Tax is the money that pays for things like schools, hospitals and the police. There are different types of taxes like
income tax
Income tax is the money that is taken out of the money you earn every month. It helps to pay for things we all need like hospitals and schools.
,
VAT
VAT is also called Value Added Tax. VAT is the extra money you pay when you buy things. The money goes to the government to pay for things like schools and hospitals.
and
council tax
Council
A council is also called a
local authority
A local authority is also called a council. They are a group of people who make decisions about some of the things in the area where you live like schools,
social care
Social care means the services that give care and support to people who need it.
(support for people), parks and dustbin collection.
. They are a group of people who make decisions about some of the things in the area where you live. These include: schools, social care (support for people), parks and dustbin collection.
Tax is the money that people pay to the
council
A council is also called a
local authority
A local authority is also called a council. They are a group of people who make decisions about some of the things in the area where you live like schools,
social care
Social care means the services that give care and support to people who need it.
(support for people), parks and dustbin collection.
. They are a group of people who make decisions about some of the things in the area where you live. These include: schools, social care (support for people), parks and dustbin collection.
. It helps to pay for things like social care (support for people), parks and dustbin collection.
.
people should pay and how things like the National Health
Service
A service gives people what they need, like healthcare services that help people when they are ill, and support services that give people support.
(
NHS
The NHS is the National Health Service. The NHS gives free healthcare to everyone in the UK and includes things like your GP (doctors) surgery and hospitals.
) should work.
have finally published their ‘action plan’ - ‘Building the Right Support’, which is a national plan to get people with a
learning disability
A learning disability is to do with the way someone's brain works. It makes it harder for someone to learn, understand or do things.
and/or
autism
Autism is a disability. Autistic people find it difficult to understand what other people think and feel. They also find it difficult to tell people what they think and feel. Everyone with autism is different.
out of inpatient mental health hospitals across England.
These hospitals are places where people with a learning disability and/or autism are at increased risk of
abuse
Abuse is when someone bullies you and does or says something to you that makes you feel hurt, upset or scared.
and
neglect
Neglect is when you are not being cared for or supported.
, including through misuse of restraint and overmedication. The
human rights
Human
rights
Rights are the things everyone should be allowed to do like have a say, or go to school.
are the rights that everyone has. These include the right to go to school and the right to start a family.
breaches, abuse scandals and trauma people have experienced in many of these settings are well documented through police investigations, regulatory inspections and urgent recommendations for change including from
parliament
Parliament is a group of people who make laws and check what the government is doing.
’s Joint Committee on Human Rights and the Care Quality Commission.
Responding to the plan’s publication, Dan Scorer, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at Mencap, said:
“There are still over 2,000 people with a learning disability and/or autism locked away in in-patient mental health hospitals, with the average length of stay over five years. This long-awaited plan is a step towards delivering on the unfulfilled promises made by governments over more than a decade to get people out of these institutions following repeated abuse scandals. However, only by investing in the community
A community is the people and places in an area. support and housing needed will we be able to close in-patient hospital beds and stop a new generation of people from becoming trapped in these places.”
“My brother has no quality of life”
Rebecca Davis, 29, has spent four years fighting for her brother Elliot, who has autism and learning disabilities, to be released from an inpatient unit miles away from their home in North Yorkshire, said:
"When my brother Elliot was admitted to hospital back in 2018, we hoped he would receive the help he needed and be able to return home within a few weeks. But more than four years have gone by, and he’s still being detained.
“Elliot has autism and learning disabilities, and he doesn’t need to be there. Taking people hundreds of miles away from home isn't the answer – Elliot is scared and homesick. He has no quality of life and being stuck in an ATU makes everything worse.
"We’ve been working with specialist lawyers and Elliot has been fit for discharge since September. We hope he’ll be able to come back home in July, but it all depends on whether the right community care package is ready for him.
“The process of finding and implementing the right care provider, finding appropriate accommodation and the lack of communication between all
organisations
Organisations are groups like companies and businesses.
is a huge problem. If all parts of the system work together, the length of time people would spend in ATU’s would be considerably less, minimising the trauma that’s inflicted on them.
"All we want is for Elliot to live in his home and to have a suitable care package so he can make the most of life. Elliot needs specialist support, but he does not deserve to be shut away and detained in isolation.
"It feels like nothing has changed since the Winterbourne View scandal – if anything, things have got a lot worse. People continue to suffer, and I just want my brother to be with us – safe and happy at home and the same for all the other people stuck in ATU’s. They deserve better.”
-ENDS-