Call for national audit to create guidelines for future role of anti-psychotic medications for challenging behaviour

tablets_shutterstock_128350532 (2)

As you know, we don’t normally blog about editorials on the Learning Disability Elf site, but this is on an important issue that affects a lot of people and we were keen to draw attention to the considered thoughts of the authors. We have posted many times in the past about the evidence base for [read the full story…]

CQC and CBF publish ‘Three Lives’ Report with commitments to action

winterbourne

A short while ago, the Learning Disabilities Elf made a small contribution to the Justice for LB campaign by trying to draw attention once again to the evidence base. Wednesday (day 91) saw the publication of a key report from the Care Quality Commission and Challenging Behaviour Foundation, which tells the stories of three young [read the full story…]

Learning disability census finds high use of medication, incidents and restraint in specialist services

Out of sight(725x300)

Last week, the Health and Social Care Information Centre published the findings from the 2013 learning disabilities census. The census was commissioned as one of the 63 initiatives in ‘Transforming Care: A national response to Winterbourne View Hospital’ in response to the abuse at Winterbourne View Hospital. The aim was to provide an audit of [read the full story…]

What people with learning disabilities think about abuse and those who are abusers

Breakdown

Background The recent events at Winterbourne View refocused attention on abuse of people with learning disabilities, and there is an acceptance of the need for system wide change as a result of the enquiries that followed the uncovering of these events. That change has posited the need to close Winterbourne View type services and help [read the full story…]

Census shows lack of progress in moving people with learning disabilities from hospitals to appropriate care

census 2 shutterstock

Winterbourne View Progress Report Published At the end of last week, the Government published it progress report on the joint improvement programme set in train following the Winterbourne View scandal. The report sets out the progress made, but also recognises the scale of the task still ahead. There were forty eight people resident in Winterbourne [read the full story…]

Good practice projects in supporting people with learning disabilities identified in DH project report

shutterstock_134211863

Background What is good practice when supporting people with learning disabilities? This is the question that was raised following the publication of the Government’s interim report into the events at Winterbourne View. The question was put to the National Valuing Families Forum and the National Forum for People with Learning Disabilities over the last year [read the full story…]

Winterbourne View stocktake identifies good practice examples but raises concerns about lack of joint funding arrangements

Compass and map

Following the signing of the concordat on Winterbourne View, there was a commitment to producing a report on progress against the agreements made by the  signatories of that document . This report was published earlier this month and reports the findings from a questionnaire administered to all the 152 health and well-being board areas. The [read the full story…]

Adult Protection research suggests there is still much to do in response to events at Winterbourne View

shutterstock_14565259 man holding hand up stop

The events at Winterbourne View assessment and treatment service, where the BBC Panorama programme uncovered systematic abuse of people with learning disabilities, has led to a serious case review written by Margaret Flynn and Vic Citarella. The review concluded that the services provided at Winterbourne View were not based on an understanding of the needs of the [read the full story…]

Social Workers get new practice guidance on working with people with learning disabilities with mental health needs

Senior_Confused

Following the publication of the Winterborne View ‘concordat’ December 2012, it was agreed that the College of Social Work, in collaboration with other key groups and organisations, would produce guidance for social workers on good practice in working with people with learning disabilities who also have mental health conditions. The College of Social Work  is [read the full story…]

Alliance urges providers of support to people with learning disabilities to sign up to quality code

driving up quality

The Driving up Quality Alliance is an alliance of people and organisations (listed below) committed to ensuring that the kind of abuse of people with learning disabilities uncovered at Winterbourne View can never happen again. They have developed a Code which they are inviting all providers that support people with learning disabilities to sign up [read the full story…]