The ‘Time for Change’ report, commissioned by NHS England examines the future of services for people with learning disabilities and/or autism
Following Winterbourne the Government pledged to move those with learning disabilities from inappropriate institutions and into community care by June 2014.
Winterbourn view - Time for Change finds that three years on, not only has that movement not been achieved, but there are still more people being admitted to such institutions than are being discharged.
Disability Rights UK calls for a proper timetable for these transfers to be established together with the opportunity for people with learning disabilities and/or autism to have full engagement in the decision making process to make their wants and needs known.
Key recommendations of the report
Time for Change was written by Sir Stephen Bubb, CEO of Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO). The report’s key recommendations are:
- To urgently close inappropriate in-patient care institutions;
- A Charter of Rights for people with learning disabilities and/or autism and their families;
- To give people with learning disabilities and their families a ‘right to challenge’ decisions and the right to request a personal budget;
- A requirement for local decision-makers to follow a mandatory framework that sets out who is responsible, for which services and how they will be held to account, including improved data collection and publication;
- Improved training and education for NHS, local government and provider staff;
- To start a social investment fund to build capacity in community-based services, to enable them to provide alternative support and empowering people with learning disabilities by giving them the rights they deserve in determining their care.