Hospital patients with learning disabilities are being let down by a lack of specialist nurses and other staff with skills in meeting their needs, a new report suggests.
The Health Services Safety Investigation Branch (HSSIB) this week published an independent report into the care of adults with learning disabilities in acute hospital settings.
The report found “persistent and widespread” safety risks for patients with learning disabilities when they are admitted to hospital, despite a “strong commitment” across the NHS to address this.
It used evidence from more than 20 patients with learning disabilities and detailed one case study in particular of a 79-year-old man whose individual needs were found to have been missed in the run-up to his death.
