CQC finds failings in learning disability services

December 2011

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) last week published the first five reports of its programme of 150 inspections of care services for people with a learning disability.

The services, which include hospitals and care homes, are being inspected following the abuse scandal at the privately-run Winterbourne View residential hospital near Bristol. The abuse was highlighted in a BBC Panorama programme, which aired earlier this year.

Of the first five reports to be published, four exposed services that have failed to meet the government’s essential standards and quality, as required by law. Although no abuse has been uncovered on the scale of Winterbourne – for which 10 people face criminal charges – the CQC says that findings of the reports and other completed inspections suggest that stronger leadership and better staff training are needed.

Dame Jo Williams, former Mencap chief executive and chair of the CQC, said that problems are often rooted in a poor understanding of procedures or a lack of person-centred care: “It is especially important that services make sure that the care of people using these services, many of whom have extremely complex and individual needs, is tailored to their needs.”

Mencap and the Challenging Behaviour Foundation released a joint statement in reaction to the findings. David Congdon, Mencap’s head of campaigns and policy, said: “Mencap and the Challenging Behaviour Foundation are calling for the government to speed up placing adult safeguarding on a statutory footing, so that all agencies involved are forced to take this seriously.

“It is also inexcusable that the reports reveal a lack of understanding about what safe, person-centred care looks like when we know there is a lot of clear guidance on this.”