Publication by the UK Government on Tuesday of the Bubb report into progress with the ending of institutional care in England following the Winterbourne scandal is of interest to many people in Scotland.
Its report that in England more people with learning disabilities are entering hospital and other forms of institutional care than are leaving is worrying. In the year to September, 923 people were discharged but a further 1,306 were admitted.
Norman Lamb MP, the UK minister responsible, has said the problem is that local authority provision for people living independently is falling behind. But he insisted that money was not the problem, after all these places were funded by the NHS - surely the money could be used better in the community.
Scotland is not unique in this. Hundreds of people with learning disabilities are still in institutional care north of the border and many more travel south to hospital and other services in England.
But a new development worries us considerably. This month one major Scottish council has announced its plan to commission a special unit dedicated to the care and accommodation of 20 adults with learning disabilities, staffed on a 24- hour basis. It is likely that the new unit will open in just six weeks and will be simply an underused wing of an existing care home.
This is going back to the type of services that were provided in the old long stay hospitals that plagued Scotland just 30 years ago - segregated units that keep people with learning disabilities out of community settings.
Until a few years ago, Scotland was leading the way in helping its most vulnerable citizens. If the new SNP administration of Nicola Sturgeon is really to be a government of the people, it cannot forget about these most vulnerable citizens. This is not just a "matter for local councils." This is a matter for us all.
Ian Hood, Coordinator,
Learning Disability Alliance Scotland,
5 Rose Street, Edinburgh.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article