Long-stay hospitals offering people with autism and learning disabilities little hope of discharge are a “national scandal”.
That’s the view of Dr Rhidian Hughes, chief executive of the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG).
Isabelle Garnett with son Matthew and husband Robin. Isabelle says Matthew’s time in a long-stay hospital was “utterly catastrophic”
Hughes made the comment after a VODG report revealed 355 people have been detained in long-stay hospitals for more than a decade.
More than 2,220 still in hospitals
NHS figures show 2,220 people were still in hospitals at the end of October.
The VODG report, A time for action – ending the reliance on long-stay inpatient units, suggests there is no serious prospect of those held for over a decade being discharged.
Hughes said: “It’s scandalous that this happens. There’s people there, as we have exposed in the report, that have been there for far, far too long.”
Discharge of only half by 2030
At current rates of discharge only half the people in the hospitals will have left by 2030, says the VODG.
Matthew Garnett, 19, who has a learning disability and autism, spent 18 months in long-stay hospital St Andrew’s Healthcare in Northampton.
Mother Isabelle, 51, from London, says his experience was “utterly catastrophic” as he was routinely forcibly injected, restrained and secluded.
Isabelle, who campaigns against long-stay hospitals, says her son now lives happily in residential care.
CQC ‘should be able to downgrade hospitals’
The VODG says health watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) should be able to downgrade hospitals that keep people for extended stays of more than a year.
The organisation also wants the Treasury to set up a £400m fund for homes in communities and for the National Audit Office to publish an annual report on efforts to move people out of hospitals.
The Department of Health and Social Care has said numbers in hospitals have fallen by more than 20 per cent since 2015.
Related:
Nearly 50 dead in long-stay hospitals
- ‘Abject failure’ of hospital plan
- Independent medics sent into hospital
- Hospital placed in special measures
- Huge surge in hospitals using restraint
- Social workers aim to cut hospital stays
- Hospital brought out of special measures
- Still stuck in mental health hospitals
- Spotlight on hospital care
- Families fight detention ‘scandal’
- High noon at High Court for parents
- Parents go to court to fight for rights
- Parents want rights in over-18s welfare
Published: 12 December 2019
