People with autism are still being held in “bare cells with hatches”, says a new report.
The finding have emerged from a review into the care of people with learning disabilities or autism in long-term segregation (LTS).
Alicia Wood, whose probe found examples of good practice were “quite rare”
The report authors are Alicia Wood and Baroness Hollins.
Wood campaigns on human rights, while Hollins is a professor of the psychiatry of learning disability at the University of London.
The pair looked at the care of 26 people in LTS in mental health hospitals.
Without the right therapy
In most cases, the hospitals segregated people over challenging behaviour without using the right therapy.
In nearly half of the cases, the hospitals attempted to create a more ‘home like’ environment by adapting a room or suite of rooms.
But the other half used segregation in single rooms or “high security” settings. They held people in bare cells with hatches for surveillance, communication and food.
There were plans for some patients to move back to an open ward. But for others the hospitals did not view this as a positive next step.
Lack of autism-friendly environments
Wood and Hollins raised questions about the lack of autism-friendly environments.
The pair said there were examples of better practice, but these were “quite rare”.
Baroness Hollins’ report found people segregated for challenging behaviour without therapeutic care
Among other concerns were a “lack of recognition or addressing trauma and other psychological issues”.
Also, people were detained under “separate autism or aggressive behaviour criterion” without an identified mental illness.
‘Extremely disturbing’
Dan Scorer is Mencap’s policy head.
He called the findings “extremely disturbing”.
Scorer said they mirror “the wider slow pace of change”. More than 2,000 people were still locked in “modern-day asylums”.
Care minister Helen Whately said the UK government will provide targeted support for people in mental health units.
This was part of the £31m it was spending on autism services in its mental health recovery package.
Related:
- Families wait for action on segregation
- Abuse ‘endemic across care system’
- Families fight detention ‘scandal’
- ‘Abject failure’ of hospital plan
- 100 restrained face-down in a month
- Ombudsman slams mental health care
- Four in five suffer poor mental health
- Still stuck in mental health hospitals
- Mental health problems go undiagnosed
- Scandal of child mental health spending
Published: 1 August 2021
