“My child's precious young life has been wasted for such a long time.”
Right now, there are over 2,000 people with a learning disability and autistic people locked away in mental health hospitals, with many far away from home and their families.
The UK Government are set to fail to meet their own target, leaving people with a learning disability and autistic people locked away who don’t need to be. A joint investigation by ITV News and Mencap has uncovered that around £534 million has been spent on inpatient beds for over 2,000 people with a learning disability and autism in England over the course of just one year.
That’s why we have launched a joint petition calling on the government to publish an updated, stronger plan to end this human rights scandal.
The UK Government committed to reducing the number of people with a learning disability and autistic people locked away in mental health hospitals by 50% by March 2024.
Martha*, mother to Anna*, has spent years campaigning for her daughter to get the right support in the community.
“My daughter has a learning disability and is autistic. She has been detained in inpatient units for over ten years and has spent most of her adult life in institutionalised care.
“At one point she was briefly discharged back into the community. But it was still very restrictive care. It failed to give her the personalised care she needed, and she was readmitted back to hospital.
“My child's precious young life has been wasted for such a long time. I hope one day she can finally get the right support she needs to be able to live in the community near her family.”
“She never self-harmed when she still lived with us but does now since being admitted to hospital. Her injuries are shocking to look at – it breaks my heart to see her suffer."
A joint investigation by ITV News and Mencap has uncovered that around £534 million has been spent on inpatient beds for over 2,000 people with a learning disability and autism in England over the course of just one year. Huge amounts of public money as being spent on the wrong sort of care that is often harming people. Instead, Government must make establishing the right community support an urgent priority – this includes the right social care, suitable housing, and a focus on early intervention and prevention.
The government committed to reducing the number of people locked away, like Martha, by 50% by March 2024. The clock is ticking with just days to go, and nowhere near enough progress has been made. New analysis from Mencap predicts that at the current pace of change it will be 6 years before Government meet this target.
Mencap, along with other organisations**, are calling for an updated and strengthened plan from the Government and new commitments. The waste of lives, and waste of money, must end.
You can also find more information on our website: https://www.mencap.org.uk/blog/government-wastes-half-billion-pounds-year-wrong-treatment-people-learning-disability-and
*Both names have been changed for anonymity.
**The petition is joint with the Challenging Behaviour Foundation, BASW England, Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG), VoiceAbility, Association for Real Change, Rightful Lives, Autism Alliance, Learning Disability England, National Autistic Society