Support the 'Getting it right' campaign

BILD is supporting Mencap's 'Getting it right' campaign, launching this week in support of Learning Disability Week. Their campaign is aimed at healthcare professionals, hospital trusts and healthcare authorities and follows on from Mencap's Death by indifference report (2007) and the many new cases such as that of Kyle Flack highlighted below.
 
Mencap are also launching a charter developed in conjunction with the medical Royal Colleges asking healthcare authorities to sign up to. The charter is NOT a quality mark, or an endorsement by Mencap. It is a commitment by the healthcare authorities to fulfil the nine points and make sure that when people with a learning disability are treated within their trusts, they get the right treatment. It sets a standard for working practices and will make health trusts accountable to people with a learning disability, their families and carers.

Find out more about the 'Getting it right' campaign at the Mencap website.
 

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is undertaking an inquiry into disability-related harassment and how well this is currently being addressed by public authorities. They want to hear from anyone who has been harassed and from organisations that work for and with them, including voluntary and community sector organisations, public authorities (such as local councils, police, housing, social services and education) and public transport operators.

“There can be no more important human right than to live life in safety and with security. Its absence prevents us from living our lives to the full. And, for some, its absence has led to the loss of life itself. For many disabled people in Britain safety and security is a right frequently denied.”

Trevor Phillips - Promoting the safety and security of disabled people 2009

BILD urges everyone with a view on this, particularly those with experience of hate crime, their family carers and those who support them, to contact the Commission and give their evidence to the inquiry. BILD will help anyone or any organisation who needs it to make this happen. Contact us on 01562 723010 or enquiries@bild.org.uk

Find out more about the enquiry on the Equality and Human Rights Commission website.

Download information about the enquiry in easy read format.
 

On Tuesday 8 June, Basildon University Hospital Trust was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay £40,000 costs for failures in its systems and procedures that led to the death of Kyle Flack, pictured left, aged 20.

Kyle was a quadriplegic and had cerebral palsy and learning disabilities and was admitted to Basildon Hospital in October 2006 after becoming ill. His bed was not fitted with the appropriate safety bumpers despite requests from his mother. When he was moved to a different ward, staff were not informed that he was deaf, and his round the clock nursing care was withdrawn. Two days after having been admitted, Kyle died from asphyxiation after his head became stuck between the bars of his hospital bed.

The inquest verdict on 20 July 2009 found that the circumstances leading to his death were:

- Inadequate risk assessments
- The level of supervision had been inadequate for Kyle’s complex needs
- There had been poor record keeping on behalf of the Trust
- Ineffective cascading of information which failed to support the staff providing direct care to Kyle
- Insufficient training on the proper use of cot sides and bumpers
- The cause of death was contributed to by neglect

The £50,000 fine followed the prosecution of Basildon University Hospital for failing to address the health and safety issues. The Health and Safety Executive’s statement identified that the Trust had no system to assess the risk to patients from bed rails: “Despite Kyle’s size, he was placed in a bed with adult spacing bed rails. Had the rails been suitable for Kyle, it would not have been physically possible for him to get his head through any gap”

Keith Smith, BILD Chief Executive said, “Kyle’s death was preventable and his loss is another indictment of the poor quality of healthcare that many people with learning disabilities continue to receive. BILD is committed to ensuring that there is equal access to high quality person centred health care for all people with learning disabilities. This requires a real change in attitudes and awareness from healthcare professionals and all those responsible for providing direct support and care.”

There is a brief interview with Kyle's mother in this Sky News report.
 

A cancer patient who has a phobia of hospitals should be forced to undergo a life-saving operation if necessary, a High Court judge has ruled. Sir Nicholas Wall, sitting at the Court of Protection, ruled doctors could forcibly sedate the 55-year-old woman, who has learning difficulties.

The woman lacked the capacity to make decisions about her health, he said. Doctors at her NHS foundation trust had argued she would die if her ovaries and fallopian tubes were not removed.

Read more about the case on the BBC website and on the Daily Telegraph website. There is another article about the powers of the Court of Protection on the Telegraph website.
Find out more about the Court of Protection

There is more about the Mental Capacity Act on our human rights page
Find out about the BILD publication, 'Communication is a human right'