The safety of people with learning disabilities in hospitals across the UK has been called into question following the leaking of a report into one of England’s largest mental health and learning disability trusts.

Centre of the storm: Katrina Percy, Southern Health Trust’s chief executive

The document claims that a shocking number of deaths were not investigated.

The report was carried out by audit firm Mazars and ordered by NHS England following the 2013 death of Connor Sparrowhawk, who had autism and a learning disability.

Southern Health ‘failed to investigate’

It has raised serious concerns about senior management at the Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, which has now been accused of failing to investigate the ‘unexpected’ deaths of more than 1,000 patients and of having “a lack of leadership”.

Connor Sparrowhawk, 18, drowned in a bath while a patient at a Southern Health-run unit.  An October inquest found ‘neglect’ contributed to his death. Sara Ryan, Connor’s mother, who has campaigned for the truth to come out, has called for board-level resignations at Southern Health Trust.

Inspiration: Connor Sparrowhawk, whose death led to a campaign that has resulted in the report

The Trust is led by chief executive Katrina Percy. It covers Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Around 8,000 staff are employed at more than 150 Trust sites, including community hospitals, health centres, inpatient units and social care services.

Report raises ‘serious questions’

Sara Ryan’s concerns about management at the Trust are now shared by Luciana Berger MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Mental Health. In Berger’s view, the report “raises serious questions about the leadership and culture of care at the Trust”.

The Mazars report focuses attention once again on long-standing concerns about the number of people with learning disabilities who die needlessly every year in NHS care. According to Mencap research, the number is around 1,200.

Mazars highlighted that between April 2011 and March 2015 there were 10,306 deaths at Southern Health Trust. Whether an investigation was carried out or not was found to depend on the type of patient who died.

Luciana Berger MP: “for so many deaths not to have been investigated is alarming”

Critically, while the Trust looked into the deaths of 30 per cent of adults with mental health problems, it did so with only 1 per cent of those with learning disabilities and only 0.3 per cent of over-65s with mental health problems.

‘We urgently need answers’

Luciana Berger MP has raised concerns about the current safety of patients following the report. She said: “We urgently need answers. Ministers must take action to understand how this was allowed to happen and answer important questions about whether or not these services are now safe.”

In a statement responding to Mazars’ findings, Southern Health appeared not to be perturbed by the number of deaths of people with mental health needs or learning disabilities in its care. It said the report “contains no evidence of more deaths than expected in the last four years of people with mental health needs or learning disabilities for the size and age of the population we serve”.

That view was not shared by Berger, who said: “For there to have been so many unexpected deaths in one Trust is of deep concern itself, but for so many of those deaths not to have been investigated is extremely alarming.”

Published: 10 December 2015