‘Learning Disabilities: policies to reduce inpatient care’ a report by the House of Commons Library

This research briefing by the House of Commons library, published in April 2023, outlines health policies aimed at reducing inpatient care for people with a learning disability.

According to the report there are approximately 1.5 million people with a learning disability in England and on average, the life expectancy of women with a learning disability is 18 years shorter and for men is 14 years shorter than in the general population.

In February 2023, there were 2,045 people with a learning disability or autism receiving inpatient care, of which over half (56%) had a total stay of two years or longer.

The government and NHS England are working to reduce health inequalities for this population group and the programmes established to improve care and outcomes are discussed in this report.

As part of the long term plan, the NHS is committed to tackling the causes of morbidity and premature death for people with learning disabilities. One of the key targets around this area was to halve inpatient care for this group from 2015 to 2024.

These include:

• The Health and Care Act 2022 – making it a legal requirement for all health and social care providers registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to provide employees with training on autism and learning disabilities
• The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC)’s action plan for ‘Building the right support for people with a learning disability and autistic people’
• NHS England’s ‘Learning from lives and deaths – People with a learning disability and autistic people’ (LeDeR) Policy

You can view the full report at the House of Commons library.

Ashtons works with a number of facilities providing learning disability inpatient care, providing clinical support, advice and guidance through team of specialist clinical pharmacists. This includes helping to improve clinical governance, achieve best practice standards and meet regulatory requirements. Contact us to find out more about the work out clinical pharmacists carry out.