As anticipated, a question from Tom Clarke MP (Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Learning Disability) led to an interesting debate in the Commons on Tuesday 15th July. The Minister of State at the Department of Health, Norman Lamb, reported on ‘progress’ post-Winterbourne on transferring people with learning disabilities out of assessment units, and admitted his disappointment on progress to date.
Tom Clarke’s initial question was “What the new deadline will be for moving people with a learning disability out of assessment and treatment units and into community provision.”
Norman Lamb’s initial ‘straight-bat’ response was “We are working with NHS England to set out clear expectations for progress and improved rates of discharge. This includes NHS England producing an action plan to measure progress against. The Winterbourne View joint improvement programme is working with local areas to identify issues and to support them to make progress.”
Tom Clarke’s follow-up question “Given the severe lack of funding in this area and the need for development of housing and proper support within the community to avoid the recurrence of, for example, what happened in Winterbourne, will the Minister explain how he is addressing this problem and who he is working with?” prompted a lively debate, a transcript of which can be read here.
Anne McGuire, for example, made this observation: “Promises come cheap, but results take sustained action. The fact is that a promise was made to the families of those with learning disabilities to move them out of assessment and treatment units by June 2014. What exactly is the situation now? The latest figures revealed that only 35% of that promise had been fulfilled.”