Background The recent position paper by the Royal College of Psychiatrists on the need for in-patient beds for people with learning disabilities was published as part of the response to the Winterbourne View scandal. The paper made it clear that it was important to make a very clear distinction between the function of in-patient support [read the full story…]
Background When asked to consider what makes life good for us, we might often think about the central place of choice – the choice of what we wear, what we eat, how we spend our time, the work we do – all these things will be part of our identity. If we need support, then [read the full story…]
Background Offering choice to patients is at the heart of the NHS, supported by a set of legal rights (see the Choice Framework) and patient led assessments of care environments have been introduced (PLACE) applying to hospitals, hospices and day treatment centres providing NHS funded care. At present this covers only care environments, not clinical care [read the full story…]
Background Published research in the last few years has shed some light on the experiences of people with learning disabilities in the criminal justice system, with significant evidence emerging of their vulnerability. The authors of this current study however, were interested in the ways in which people might, or might not, become involved in the [read the full story…]
Background The Mental Capacity Act (2005) provides a legal framework for assessing capacity in individuals. Where an individual is shown not to have capacity to make a specific decision at a specific point in time, it also provides a framework for decisions to be made on behalf of that person, in that person’s best interest. [read the full story…]
Background The debate about the place of assessment and treatment beds for adults with learning disabilities continues. The Royal College of Psychiatrists recently published a paper as part of the response to the events at Winterbourne View which set out its view of the need for a range of in-patient services which included acute admission [read the full story…]
Winterbourne View Progress Report Published At the end of last week, the Government published it progress report on the joint improvement programme set in train following the Winterbourne View scandal. The report sets out the progress made, but also recognises the scale of the task still ahead. There were forty eight people resident in Winterbourne [read the full story…]
A couple of months ago, we posted about a trial of group based cognitive therapy to help with anger management in people with learning disabilities. The study was interesting in that it showed the approach was effective in improving anger control and in decreasing supporter rated challenging behaviour. What was also interesting about the trial [read the full story…]
We have posted previously of the role of attributions in the way support staff respond to challenging behaviour, with studies looking at inconsistencies in responses and the impact of specific attributions on helping behaviour The researchers in this Scottish based study were interested in exploring this further, and in particular looking at the extent to [read the full story…]
Following the signing of the concordat on Winterbourne View, there was a commitment to producing a report on progress against the agreements made by the signatories of that document . This report was published earlier this month and reports the findings from a questionnaire administered to all the 152 health and well-being board areas. The [read the full story…]
