New figures show an alarming rise in the number of people with autism without a learning disability staying in mental health hospitals.
That’s the finding of a report by the National Autistic Society (NAS).
Jane Harris of the NAS says NHS England’s Transforming Care programme has failed those with autism
The report says those in hospitals are subjected to “unnecessary seclusion, restraint and overmedication” and are “often miles away” from friends and family.
Mental health hospitals show 24 per cent rise
The figures show a 24 per cent rise in autistic people without a learning disability in mental health hospitals since 2015, according to the report,
Overall, there has been a 7 per cent rise in all autistic people in hospitals, says the NAS.
One in four (28 per cent) of autistic people in hospitals have been there for five years or more.
Four in 10 (505) are under 25 and 355 have been identified as no longer needing inpatient care.
Transforming Care initiative ‘failed’
The NAS report is titled Beyond Transforming Care: What needs to change?
The government’s Transforming Care initiative aimed to reduce the numbers of people with autism and learning disabilities in hospitals by between 35 per cent and 50 per cent by March 2019.
NHS Digital figures show 2,350 people with autism and learning disabilities were in hospital at the end of October 2018.
The NAS says the figures show Transforming Care has failed.
‘Appalling situation’
Jane Harris is the NAS’s director of external affairs. She said that “changing funding arrangements” was the only way to address the “appalling situation”.
Harris said NHS England’s upcoming long-term plan must find a way of putting “the millions spent on the wrong type of care into the right care, near family and friends”.
A Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) spokesperson said it is “determined to reduce the numbers of autistic people in mental health hospitals.”
The DHSC said since 2015 there has been around a 20 per cent reduction in the number of inpatients.
Related:
- NHS to screen all mental health deaths
- Ombudsman slams mental health care
- Four in five suffer poor mental health
- Still stuck in mental health hospitals
- Mental health problems go undiagnosed
- NHS watchdog demands community care
- New NHS guidelines shift care provision
- Call for radical change in care
Published: 12 December 2018
