Learning Disability England urges protected support — SkimNews
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- How We Survive and Thrive is a new Learning Disability England report worked on by Fiona Walker and other commissioners with researchers from the University of Birmingham and Manchester Metropolitan University.
- People with learning disabilities faced Covid death rates in England four to six times higher than average, die on average 19.5 years earlier than people without learning disabilities, and have deaths almost twice as likely to be classed as avoidable.
- Family carers and communities provided welcome support during the pandemic, even as planners abandoned families, care homes failed and the needs of people in family homes or community settings were often overlooked.
- The report recommends prioritising patients with learning disabilities during public-health emergencies and increasing, rather than decreasing, their support.
- The report also calls for inclusion on the GP learning disability register, accessible information and reasonable adjustments; treatment reactions can be wrongly read as refusal of care, and Mencap says such adjustments can be the difference between life and death.
- NICE withdrew advice that patients needing support with personal care, whatever the reason, should be assessed as scoring high for “frailty”; the editorial says “do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation” decisions may have partly reflected that guidance.
- Social-care packages and local support face cuts while the Learning from Lives and Deaths scheme and mandatory healthcare training face funding pressure; learning-disability nurse numbers have fallen by a third since 2009 and student numbers are collapsing.
Why it matters: For the 1.5 million people with learning disabilities in the UK, the stakes are current as well as historical: learning-disability nurse numbers have fallen by a third since 2009, while social-care cuts and funding pressure affect training and oversight. Prioritising patients and providing accessible information and reasonable adjustments directly affect whether treatment is understood and avoidable deaths are prevented.
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