Bild welcomes the release of the delayed 2024 Learning from Lives and Deaths (LeDeR) report, while recognising that its findings show how much urgent work is still needed to reduce unacceptable health inequalities for people with a learning disability and autistic people. The fact that this is the final national LeDeR report under the current academic partnership is also deeply concerning.
The report highlights that people with a learning disability and autistic people are still on average dying far earlier than the general population, and too often from causes that could have been treated or prevented.
The key findings show that:-
- People with a learning disability died at a median age of 62.8 years, 19 years younger than the general population, whose median age at death was 81.8 years.
- More than half of deaths, 56.6%, occurred before age 65, compared with 14.8% in the general population.
- Avoidable deaths have fallen since 2021, from 46.3% to 39%, but the gap between the general population rate (21.1%) remains substantial.
- People from ethnic minority backgrounds continue to die significantly younger overall and face additional health inequalities and poorer outcomes.
- Pneumonia, ischaemic heart disease and epilepsy were the leading avoidable causes of death, accounting for nearly one third, 32.8%, of all avoidable deaths in 2024.
- Respiratory infections and epilepsy remain priority areas where better prevention, earlier intervention and improved care could save lives.
Bild is calling for continued learning, monitoring and urgent action to reduce these unacceptable health inequalities.
Kate Brackley, Co-Chair of Bild for the Future and Trustee and Learning Disability Advisor at Bild, said:
“It is shame that LeDeR has to finish, it has shone a light on people like Oliver McGowan, people who died too young from things that they shouldn’t have. Me and my friends are much more aware of things that can be dangerous like constipation, over-medication and choking than we used to be.
“We are all people, we are not just a number, we are human and we have a voice that needs to be listened to. Without LeDeR we won’t have a chance to say how we can change things.
“I co-chair our Growing Older national group and we talk about things like LeDeR, we will carry on with our good work to make a difference in the lives of people with learning disabilities.”
Lindsey Allen, Programme Lead – Health Inequalities and Coproduction at Bild, said:
“While we welcome the headline finding that fewer people with a learning disability are dying from avoidable causes, it is disappointing that so little has changed in the ten years since the programme began.
“The fact that this will be the final LeDeR report only deepens the concern shared by those of us who know, love, support and work alongside people with learning disabilities. Significant inequalities in health outcomes remain, yet there is still no clear direction for the sustained improvement and change that is needed.
“We remain committed to working alongside people with a learning disability, families, and partners across health and social care to share good practice, improve understanding, and support better health outcomes for individuals.”
Read the 2024 LeDeR report (Easy Read version)