17 Dec 2012

Final report on Winterbourne View Hospital

The government has today published its final report into the events at Winterbourne View Hospital and has set out a programme of action to transform services so that vulnerable people no longer live inappropriately in hospitals and are cared for in line with best practice.
The programme of action includes:
  • by spring 2013, the department will set out proposals to strengthen accountability of boards of directors and senior managers for the safety and quality of care which their organisations provide
  • by June 2013, all current placements will be reviewed, everyone in hospital inappropriately will move to community-based support as quickly as possible, and no later than June 2014
  • by April 2014, each area will have a joint plan to ensure high quality care and support services for all people with learning disabilities or autism and mental health conditions or behaviour described as challenging, in line with best practice
  • as a consequence, there will be a dramatic reduction in hospital placements for this group of people
  • the Care Quality Commission will strengthen inspections and regulation of hospitals and care homes for this group of people, including unannounced inspections involving people who use services and their families
  • a new NHS and local government-led joint improvement team will be created to lead and support this transformation
This programme is backed by a concordat signed by more than 50 partners, setting out what changes they will deliver and by when. The government will publish a progress report on these actions by December 2013.
The final report into the events at Winterbourne View Hospital states that staff routinely mistreated and abused patients, and management allowed a culture of abuse to flourish. The warning signs were not picked up, and concerns raised by a whistleblower went unheeded.
The report also reveals weaknesses in the system’s ability to hold the leaders of care organisations to account. In addition, it finds that many people are in hospital who don’t need to be. People with learning disabilities or autism, who also have mental health conditions or challenging behaviour can be, and have a right to be, given the support and care they need in the community, near to family and friends.
Read the full final report and related documentation:

11 Dec 2012

The Progression of Early Intervention Disability Services in Ireland

The Progression of Early Intervention Disability Services in Ireland: The Republic of Ireland is an island situated in north-west Europe inhabited by 4.6 million people, with 2.8% between 0 and 4 years of age with a disability (Central Statistics Office, 2012). The Irish Government funds the Irish health services, which, in turn, directly and indirectly funds disability services. Education and Disability legislation have developed in parallel, with an apparent increasing congruence with both moving toward a rights-based approach. Today, early intervention disability services are delivered by both statutory and nongovernmental agencies with wide variation and no national consistency in service provision. Some components of the Developmental Systems Approach can be discerned in Irish service provision, and these include screening, access, comprehensive interdisciplinary assessment, and early childhood programs. However, assessment of families, development and implementation, monitoring and outcome evaluation, and transition planning are not as identifiable. Guided by legislation and organizational restructuring, early intervention provision in Ireland is in a state of flux with an emphasis on developing national uniformity of family-centered early intervention services.

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Apologies for flood of updates all at once; our network at is being upgraded and the work is complete I will be able to resume weekly (ish!) updates.
Sheila.

Direct payments: a national survey of direct payments policy and practice

Direct payments: a national survey of direct payments policy and practice: Direct payments allow people to arrange their own social services. They give individuals control over the social care funding to which they are eligible, and are seen as an important vehicle for promoting independence and choice. Yet there are substantial variations in direct payment arrangements. This UK-wide survey suggests that direct payments packages are provided to people receiving more hours of care per week than the average social care recipient. Significant disparities between local councils were found in the proportions of eligible people receiving direct payments as well as in hourly payment rates, which may affect how individuals attain a fair stake in the market for social care. Also, there were wide variations in the proportion of local community care budgets spent on direct payments, both between areas and across user groups. These were largely reflected in the strength in developments for different users groups; 15.5% of the budgets of English authorities for people with a physical disability was spent on direct payments, compared to 1.1% for people with a learning disability, 0.8% for older people and 0.4% for people with a mental health problem.


Outcomes for parents with disabled children

Outcomes for parents with disabled children: Parent and family support is central to government policy on ensuring the well-being of children. Whilst much is known about the difficulties and challenges parents with a disabled child face, and what parents want for their children, very little is known about how parents want their own lives to be. This report presents findings from research with parents of disabled children about the outcomes they desire for themselves, and their views on the role services can play in helping them achieve those outcomes.  Ninety mothers and eighteen fathers across three local authorities participated. Parents’ desired outcomes focused on maintaining or enhancing their personal identity, their physical and emotional well-being, and their skill and knowledge base. They also expressed a desire for a better balance between their caring and parenting roles. In addition to individual outcomes, parents described family-level outcomes including maintaining family life and ensuring the positive adjustment of siblings. Also, parents wanted sufficient practical and financial resources to meet the needs of their disabled child and the rest of their family.

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Choice and independence over the lifecourse: final report to the Department of Health

Choice and independence over the lifecourse: final report to the Department of Health: Between 2006 and 2011 the Social Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the University of York carried out a programme of research on choice for disabled and older people who need social care support, and their family carers, called ‘Choice and Independence over the Lifecourse’. This final report for the Department of Health (DH) provides an overview of this programme of research. The account of the research is divided into 3 sections: projects funded from the main DH programme grant; projects funded through SPRU’s ‘responsive mode’ capacity; and other projects linked to the DH programme. An account of the relevance of the research programme to DH policy and its implementation at local levels is also provided. The research conducted by SPRU within its DH-funded programme has, for the most part, been concerned with issues of choice, from the perspectives of users, carers, service providers and managers. At the heart of the programme was a major long-term study of disabled young people, working age adults and older people as their health and other circumstances changed. The report concludes with a list of the published outputs (peer reviewed journal articles, books and reports, research summaries, professional press, and presentations) emerging from this research programme.


Publication of Your Voice Your Choice Report 2012

Publication of Your Voice Your Choice Report 2012
This Report captures the views and experiences of the participants in Your Voice Your Choice and will help inform the development of the National Disability Strategy Implementation Plan.
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NDA Research Databases

NDA Research Databases:

NDA Research Databases

The National Disability Authority hosts two searchable database of Irish disability-related research, which are a valuable resource for researchers, policymakers and practitioners. The NDA wishes to add new records to the completed reseach database covering the period from January 2006 to present. If you or a member of your organisation has published disability research during this timeframe that you believe should be included in the database, please submit details of the research using this online Research Database submission form.
NDA also hosts a Research in Progress Database. If you or a member of your organisation is currently conducting disability research that you believe should be included in this database, please submit details of the research using this online Research in Progress submission form.


Involvement in risk management process wanted by majority of sample of people with learning disabilities

Involvement in risk management process wanted by majority of sample of people with learning disabilities: Risk management is an integral part of supporting people with learning disabilities. The researchers in this study were interested to look at the involvement of people in making decisions about risks in their lives. They wanted to look at the how staff considered the individual’s ability to assess the associated risks and make an informed [...]


New film aims to enable people with learning disabilities to talk about death and dying

New film aims to enable people with learning disabilities to talk about death and dying: Last week we posted about a study looking at end of life are for people with learning disabilities through the experiences of the staff supporting them. This week, we would like to draw your attention to a new film that has been produced by CHANGE for Dying Matters and the National End of Life Care [...]

Lack of strategic commitment to annual health checks threatens to widen health inequality for people with learning disabilities

Lack of strategic commitment to annual health checks threatens to widen health inequality for people with learning disabilities: We have posted previously about health checks for people with learning disabilities, for example, the work of My Life My Choice, who looked at why it was that so few people with learning disabilities in their locality were getting access to annual health checks. We have also posted about the findings of a systematic review [...]


New NHS mandate identifies key objectives for people with learning disabilities

New NHS mandate identifies key objectives for people with learning disabilities: The NHS has this week published a new ‘mandate’ which sets out a number of agreements between the Government and the NHS Commissioning Board, which is responsible for improving  health outcomes by supporting the commissioning of effective services. The mandate identifies five areas for improvement: preventing people from dying prematurely enhancing quality of life for [...]


Aspergers dropped as psychiatric manual is revised

Aspergers dropped as psychiatric manual is revised: THE term 'Asperger's disorder' has been dropped from one of the world's most influential psychiatric manuals. And abnormally bad and frequent temper tantrums will be given the scientific-sounding diagnosis 'DMDD'. But 'dyslexia' and other learning disorders remain. The revisions come in the first major rewrite in nearly 20 years of the American Psychiatric Association's 'Diagnostic and Statistical Manual' (DSM), approved by the board on Saturday ...

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Use of psychiatric diagnostic tool sharpens understanding of mental health issues in people with learning disability

Use of psychiatric diagnostic tool sharpens understanding of mental health issues in people with learning disability: Estimates of the prevalence of co-morbid psychiatric problems in the learning disability population have varied greatly in the literature, often bedeviled by a lack of clarity around case definition. The Diagnostic Criteria for the identification of psychiatric disorders in people with learning disabilities (DC-LD) was developed by working groups of the Royal College of Psychiatry [...]