Hundreds of millions are spent on services that harm people with autism and learning disabilities.
That’s the view of Sir Robert Buckland, Member of Parliament for South Swindon and an autism father.
Sir Robert Buckland MP has told the House of Commons that mental health hospitals are failing people with autism and learning disabilities
Buckland’s adult daughter is autistic.
He told the House of Commons on Thursday (20 January) that mental health hospitals are failing people with autism and learning disabilities.
‘More restrictions’ for Patient A
Buckland referred to the case of Patient A. He is a 24-year-old autistic man who is a patient at Priory Hospital Cheadle Royal, Greater Manchester.
The hospital feeds Patient A through a hatch. His mother says the hospital treats him worse than an “animal”.
Buckland said Patient A’s treatment had led to a downward spiral of “overmedication” and “more restrictions”.
Services ‘harm people’
The Conservative MP added that the country is spending money on “harming people”.
He said figures show the country was spending “over half a billion” on hospital “services that harm people” as long as a decade ago.
Buckland also called for an end to “do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation” (DNACPR) orders being applied to people with learning disabilities in a discriminatory way.
The orders prevent doctors from giving life-saving treatment.
At the end of December, there were 2,065 people in mental health hospitals.
On average, people stay there for more than five years. Some have been there for more than 20 years.
‘Trapped’ in modern-day asylums
Mencap spokesperson Jackie O’Sullivan wants the government to act over hospital detentions
Jackie O’Sullivan is a spokesperson for learning disability charity Mencap.
She said people with autism and learning disabilities were “trapped” in modern-day asylums and called for “urgent action” from the government.
Care minister Gillian Keegan said inappropriate DNACPR orders should not be targeted at any group.
And she said the Government has reduced numbers in hospitals by 29 per cent since 2015.
The Government has said it aims to close 600 more mental health hospital beds by March 2024.
Related:
- Patient is ‘fed through a hatch’
- Long-term hospital segregation is rising
- Autistic patients held in bare cells
- 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
- Still stuck in mental health hospitals
- Mental health problems go undiagnosed
- Scandal of child mental health spending
- Hospitals ‘may have caused deaths’
- MPs back ban on long-term hospitals
- Long-stay hospitals ‘must close’
- Dismay at inaction over assessment units
- Nearly 50 dead in long-stay hospitals
- Scandal of decade-long hospital stays
- ‘Abject failure’ of hospital plan
- Social workers aim to cut hospital stays
- Spotlight on hospital care
Published: 23 January 2022
