Coronavirus: Learning Disability

(asked on 2nd June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to data published by the Care Quality Commission on 2 June 2020 on deaths of people with a learning disability, what assessment he has made of the reasons for excess deaths of people with a learning disability during the covid-19 outbreak.


Answered by
Helen Whately Portrait
Helen Whately
Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This question was answered on 18th June 2020

On 15 April, we set out our comprehensive action plan to support the adult social care sector in England throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, including ramping up testing, overhauling the way personal protective equipment is being delivered to care homes and helping to minimise the spread of the virus to keep people safe.

Since the start of this outbreak we have been working closely with the sector and public health experts to put in place guidance and support for adult social care and we will continue to ensure they have everything they need to respond.

The Government has published a range of general COVID-19 guidance documents. We have worked with the Social Care Institute for Excellence on more detailed guidance on supporting people with learning disability and autistic people during the COVID-19 pandemic which is available at the following link:

https://www.scie.org.uk/care-providers/coronavirus-covid-19/learning-disabilities-autism

We are commissioning Public Health England to undertake a thorough analysis of the numbers of deaths of people with a learning disability. This will draw on data published by NHS England and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to give as complete a picture of the impact of COVID-19 on this group of people as possible.

The following table shows the breakdown of deaths of people with a learning disability in adult social care.

Primary inspection category

Confirmed

Suspected

Total

Community based adult social care services

78

20

98

Residential social care

72

33

105

Data collection is between 10 April and 15 May 2020. Details correct at 15 May 2020.

It should be noted that the number of deaths included above may be higher than officially reported figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This is because ONS deaths data is based on clinically verified death certificates whereas the CQC’s data is derived from notifications made by providers. In some cases, deaths may be reported to the CQC as COVID-19 related when the true cause of death is not due to COVID-19.

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