Disability: Premature Deaths

Baroness Redfern Excerpts

Monday 17th October 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Redfern (Con)]

My Lords, I add my thanks to the noble Baroness, Lady Hollins, for introducing this debate on inequalities faced by individuals with learning disabilities and the need to ensure that we continually have one aim—to make sure that disability should not be a barrier to health. An able-bodied person such as myself should ensure that we highlight at every opportunity the necessity for everyone to be able to access the same health benefits.

I congratulate my noble friend Lady Fall on her thoughtful and eloquent maiden speech. I also declare my interests as set out in the register of interests—leader of North Lincolnshire Council and chair of its health and well-being board, vice-chair of the Specialised Healthcare Alliance and a member of the NHS Sustainability Committee.

The noble Baroness, Lady Hollins, spoke about the experience of people with learning disabilities. Sadly, we have read that, overall, 22% of people with a learning disability were under 50 when they died. Therefore, I welcome NHS England’s goal to “close the health gap” of health inequalities as a whole by 2020. A “must” is that we continue to maintain a skilled workforce and welcome back experienced social workers. Training and education are so very important to give staff the competence and confidence to manage complex and challenging behaviour with good partnership working and to reduce admissions to hospitals as they support individuals—not forgetting their families—on the journey from childhood to adulthood and into older age.

I am pleased that the Government have said that they want to build on the achievements and skills of the current public health workforce. So far, we can maintain a well-trained and, as I said, motivated workforce to the highest standard of professional conduct in their work. The saying is, “Make it happen”—stop bad practice and strive for excellent practice. Unfortunately, there are gaps where too many people with learning disabilities can be found in inappropriate patient settings and stay longer than necessary. The Winterbourne View hospital abuse, which we do not wish to read about or witness again, is still in our minds. Possibly we have relied too much on in-patient care. As good and necessary as some in-patient care can be, disabled people, like able-bodied people, want and desire the same thing: they want homes, not hospitals.

The Government’s aim must be for everyone with a learning disability to have an annual health check with a personal plan, but there is still a long way to go. However, I am pleased that now more people are in receipt of a direct payment or personal budget to enable them to have greater choice and control over how they live their lives and to be more creative as individuals: a light touch for support, but equal outcomes. By helping individuals to have access to activities and employment, I am pleased to say that in north Lincolnshire we have seen a 5.3% increase of people with a complex learning disability in paid employment as well as opportunities to engage with a larger circle of friends. We have also seen our new purpose-built housing scheme, partnering with our local housing association and private sector, supporting people who in many cases have lived far from their families to move from a residential setting and live a transformed independent life in a home of their own.

I wish to highlight Mary’s story, Mary has a learning disability, lives with her elderly parents and has a voluntary work placement one afternoon a week. She was unhappy and felt isolated from her community, and wanted to make friends and build her confidence. The service listened to what Mary said she wanted to do and supported her goals. Mary had never applied for any benefits, and with supported help worked to apply for them. She attended a healthy cook and eat session at one of our local health and well-being hubs and attended a music group within her area. Mary is now going to local activities independently and, more importantly, is making friends.

I am pleased that my council, with other local authorities, has joined the Changing Places national campaign to improve access to public toilet facilities for people of all ages with a profound disability, as access to toilet facilities for disabled people is a key barrier to their participation in community life.

We are building the right support to make sure that young people and adults with learning disabilities and autism have the same opportunities as everyone else to live satisfying and valued lives and are treated with dignity and respect. All of us, as well as the Government, have acknowledged that we have more to do to raise the bar. I therefore welcome the Government’s increased support to achieve those better outcomes and look forward to further updates from my noble friend Lady Chisholm.