16th May 2012: an article by Mary O’Harain the Guardian, highlighting the results of a RCN survey, will worry the parents and carers of persons with learning disabilities.
“When the abuse of adults at Winterbourne View hospital near Bristol hit the headlines earlier this year it catapulted the mistreatment of people with learning difficulties in residential settings into the headlines, and prompted calls for immediate reforms to protect vulnerable people. However, if advocates for change had hoped that the revelation would be the final alarm raised about poor care for people with learning disabilities, then a new report from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is likely to shatter those hopes.
At its annual congress the college will today on Wednesday publish the results of a survey of hundreds of specialist learning disability nurses. The majority of those who responded claim that cuts across the NHS are putting the lives of vulnerable patients at risk. The conclusion of most specialist nurses surveyed was that patients with learning difficulties were being put in danger because of inconsistent levels of care across the country and that this was being exacerbated by widespread budget cuts.
Three-quarters of respondents (74%) said they had witnessed cuts to services in the past year and, of those, 73% said they were concerned for the safety of patients as a result. More than half reported a decrease in the range of NHS services being offered to people with learning disabilities…” Full article here.
The RCN report is available from the RCN website: ‘Cuts to services hitting the most vulnerable in society‘