Autistic people and people with learning disabilities continue to be turned away, charity says new figures show too many remain ‘stuck’ in psychiatric hospitals did.
NHS England has pledged to cut hospital admissions by more than half of 2015 levels by March this year.
But figures released Thursday suggested the target was not being met.
At the end of March 2024, there were 2,045 inpatients with learning disabilities and/or autism in mental health hospitals in England.
In March 2015, this number was 2,905, representing a decrease of approximately 30%.
The 2019 NHS Long Term Plan states: “By March 2023/24, inpatient provision will have fallen to less than half of 2015 levels (in real terms, taking into account population growth).” There is.
According to statistics, about 220 of the hospitalized patients in March this year were under the age of 18, and the proportion of children was almost double from 6% in 2015 to 11%.
Overall, the average total hospital stay for patients of all ages was 1,771 days, which equates to approximately 4.9 years.
The proportion of people with autism only rose to 47% from 15% in March 2015, while the proportion of people with only a learning disability fell from 56% to 32%.
Around a fifth of hospitalized patients had both autism and a learning disability, down slightly from 23% in March 2015.
Jackie O’Sullivan, from learning disability charity Mencap, said the figures were a “sharp reminder of how people with learning disabilities, autistic people and their families have been failed by the government for more than a decade”. said.
She said there had been “some progress in changing care” since the Winterbourne View scandal, which broke in 2011 when an undercover documentary team filmed the abuse of patients with learning disabilities at a private hospital near Bristol.
But Ms O’Sullivan added:
“No matter where you live in the country, you should not have to worry about being inappropriately detained in a psychiatric hospital.”
She said families “live in fear that their loved ones will be locked up due to lack of adequate community support” and added: “To prevent people from being inappropriately detained in psychiatric hospitals, He called for further investment in “adequate housing and social care.” .
Mencap said he estimates that the unmet goal of reducing hospitalizations by 50% will not be achieved at the current pace of change until at least 2030.
They called for a “revised and strengthened action plan” that would set out how the government would “end this national scandal”.
NHS England has been contacted for comment.
