Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, under what circumstances it would be permissible for an autistic person or a person with learning disabilities to be placed in an inpatient unit rated as inadequate by the Care Quality Commission.

The National Health Service are taking action to avoid people with a learning disability and autistic people being admitted to hospital settings rated inadequate by the Care Quality Commission.

There may, however, be exceptional occasions when a person is admitted to a unit rated inadequate. We expect the decision to admit a person to a unit rated inadequate to be specific to the person, based upon an explicit agreement with the person and their carer and/or family and a balance of risks and benefits to determine whether admission is the most favourable option for that person. The decision to admit will need to take account of a number of factors, including distance from a person’s home, family and loved ones and the impact on timing of discharge or transition planning.

We are continuing to monitor this approach by reviewing the number of any exceptional new admissions to these settings.