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NHS to close residential hospitals for people with learning disabilities @sally_gillen
Many residential hospitals for people with learning disabilities will be shut over the next two years as part of a government pledge to move people out of these settings following the Winterbourne View abuse scandal. NHS chief executive Simon Stevens announced the plans at a meeting of the Commons public accounts committee last week, where he was quizzed by MPs on why thousands of people with learning disabilities were still living in institutional care.
Mr Stevens, who gave evidence alongside England’s chief nursing officer Jane Cummings, was asked why the Department of Health had ‘failed so badly’ to meet a June 2014 deadline for transferring people with learning disabilities out of hospitals that provide long-term accommodation. A spokesperson for NHS England said it did not have a list of the hospitals that would close. The meeting followed a report by the National Audit Office earlier this month that said the government would face major challenges in making sure
MARTIN ELLARD
By Sally Gillen
Assessor and senior tutor Hazel Bowden does not want to stop working
people with learning disabilities are moved into the community. Mr Stevens told the committee that from now on commissioners will be told that hospital care is no longer the model that should be commissioned. He added that the Care Quality Commission will have a role in ensuring assessment and treatment centres are phased out by no longer registering them. Ms Cummings said that care and treatment reviews are currently being undertaken with people who need to be transferred. ‘We have spent a lot of time with the families of patients with learning disabilities. Many patients tell us they want to be close to home and supported to live as normal a life as possible,’ she said. ‘They want the right to work, have an education, and have somewhere they can call their own home.’
Distressing change
Octogenarian returns to duty An 80-year-old with nearly 60 years of nursing experience has returned to her job training managers at residential care homes. Hazel Bowden (pictured) was still working in 2012 as an assessor and senior tutor at Cymru Care Training in Carmarthenshire, Wales, when a serious fall at home and the death of her husband forced her to take a break. But an invitation to return to work from the training centre’s director Valerie Ann Jones has tempted Ms Bowden back
into the workplace, where she teaches managers about safeguarding. The octogenarian, who qualified as a nurse in 1956, kept herself busy during her career break by training British Red Cross volunteers. She will now do 30 hours a month for Cymru Care while still volunteering at least two days a month with the British Red Cross. Ms Bowden said: ‘I can’t keep myself out of it. I love the people I work with, I’ve never done anything else and I feel I’m part of it.’
‘Some inpatients have found this scary because they are so used to being in hospital that the thought of being anywhere else can be distressing. One of the important things for us is to work carefully with each individual.’ Ms Cummings told the committee that between October 2014 and January 2015 figures showed that for every seven patients discharged from hospitals such as Winterbourne View, another six were admitted. In April 2014, there were 2,537 people with learning disabilities known to be living in hospitals in England, and by the end of March 2015, 789 would be moved out. ‘It is fundamental that a person is not left in an inpatient setting. A hospital is not a home,’ Ms Cummings added. Public accounts committee chair Margaret Hodge said: ‘We welcome this. It is great news.’
NURSING february 18other :: voluses 29 without no 25 ::permission. 2015 13 DownloadedSTANDARD from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 25, 2015. For personal use only. No Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
NHS to close residential hospitals for people with learning disabilities @sally_gillen
Many residential hospitals for people with learning disabilities will be shut over the next two years as part of a government pledge to move people out of these settings following the Winterbourne View abuse scandal. NHS chief executive Simon Stevens announced the plans at a meeting of the Commons public accounts committee last week, where he was quizzed by MPs on why thousands of people with learning disabilities were still living in institutional care.
Mr Stevens, who gave evidence alongside England’s chief nursing officer Jane Cummings, was asked why the Department of Health had ‘failed so badly’ to meet a June 2014 deadline for transferring people with learning disabilities out of hospitals that provide long-term accommodation. A spokesperson for NHS England said it did not have a list of the hospitals that would close. The meeting followed a report by the National Audit Office earlier this month that said the government would face major challenges in making sure
MARTIN ELLARD
By Sally Gillen
Assessor and senior tutor Hazel Bowden does not want to stop working
people with learning disabilities are moved into the community. Mr Stevens told the committee that from now on commissioners will be told that hospital care is no longer the model that should be commissioned. He added that the Care Quality Commission will have a role in ensuring assessment and treatment centres are phased out by no longer registering them. Ms Cummings said that care and treatment reviews are currently being undertaken with people who need to be transferred. ‘We have spent a lot of time with the families of patients with learning disabilities. Many patients tell us they want to be close to home and supported to live as normal a life as possible,’ she said. ‘They want the right to work, have an education, and have somewhere they can call their own home.’
Distressing change
Octogenarian returns to duty An 80-year-old with nearly 60 years of nursing experience has returned to her job training managers at residential care homes. Hazel Bowden (pictured) was still working in 2012 as an assessor and senior tutor at Cymru Care Training in Carmarthenshire, Wales, when a serious fall at home and the death of her husband forced her to take a break. But an invitation to return to work from the training centre’s director Valerie Ann Jones has tempted Ms Bowden back
into the workplace, where she teaches managers about safeguarding. The octogenarian, who qualified as a nurse in 1956, kept herself busy during her career break by training British Red Cross volunteers. She will now do 30 hours a month for Cymru Care while still volunteering at least two days a month with the British Red Cross. Ms Bowden said: ‘I can’t keep myself out of it. I love the people I work with, I’ve never done anything else and I feel I’m part of it.’
‘Some inpatients have found this scary because they are so used to being in hospital that the thought of being anywhere else can be distressing. One of the important things for us is to work carefully with each individual.’ Ms Cummings told the committee that between October 2014 and January 2015 figures showed that for every seven patients discharged from hospitals such as Winterbourne View, another six were admitted. In April 2014, there were 2,537 people with learning disabilities known to be living in hospitals in England, and by the end of March 2015, 789 would be moved out. ‘It is fundamental that a person is not left in an inpatient setting. A hospital is not a home,’ Ms Cummings added. Public accounts committee chair Margaret Hodge said: ‘We welcome this. It is great news.’
NURSING february 18other :: voluses 29 without no 25 ::permission. 2015 13 DownloadedSTANDARD from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 25, 2015. For personal use only. No Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
