Care for people with learning disabilities improving but patchy, says new report

People with learning disabilities are seeing services improve but get a better deal in some parts of the country than others, according to a new report by the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) published today. 

'Valuing People – Much Achieved, More to do' reveals that although there is much good work, councils need to improve their information and support services; increase the number of specialist, joint assessment and care management teams; and provide a bigger range of services, especially for groups with high support needs, young people becoming adults and those from minority ethnic communities. 

Speaking at the Association for Real Change conference in Stockport, Dame Denise Platt, Chair of CSCI, said :

"This is the first time we have included people with learning disabilities and their support workers in the inspection teams and in writing the report. Their contribution and insight was extremely valuable and the people using the services, the support agencies, council liaison staff and the inspectors all consider this approach a significant success. 

"There is some good news in this report. There are more advocacy services, better information, better assessment and care management and more inclusion of people who use services and their families. 

"However, progress across councils is patchy and there is much to do to make all the services as good as the best. And around the country there are some common problems – a lack of choice in services, lack of specialist staff and still not enough forward planning and coordination between agencies.

"Most importantly, some councils are not so good at finding or providing employment opportunities, helping people to access health and specialist services or ensuring suitable transport is available. This, together with a lack of adequate information for, and communication with, people with learning disabilities and their families, means that not enough people with learning disabilities are helping shape services and receiving services which support them to be independent.

"The Commission's primary aim is to put the people who use social care first. So while it is right for us to praise the good work that is going on, it is even more right for us to highlight the improvements that need to be made to make people's lives better."

In 2003 and 2004 the Social Services Inspectorate inspected councils' social care services for adults with learning disabilities to find out whether they reached the standards that people expect. 

The councils inspected were: Bury, Calderdale, Durham, East Riding, Lancashire, Merton, North Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Somerset, Thurrock and Walsall.