Deaths double in people with learning difficulties
MORE than double the number of people with learning difficulties died during the pandemic compared with the same period last year, exposing a crisis in the care sector, it has been revealed.
Working with the Office for National Statistics, the Care Quality Commission analysed all death notifications during the five weeks from April 10 to May 15. It assessed all deaths recorded by registered providers of care to people with a learning disability.
The watchdog found that 386 people with learning disabilities died. Some of them may also have been autistic, and they were receiving care from services. This is a 134 per cent rise compared with the same period in 2019, when 165 people receiving care died.
The figures expose issues in the struggling care sector and follow shocking data revealing that more than 15,000 deaths have occurred in care homes across England and Wales.
Responding to the statistics, Edel Harris, chief executive of Mencap, the learning disability charity, said: “The devastating impact of Covid-19 on our community is shocking but not surprising, when we have long been warning that the healthcare rights of people with a learning disability are under threat like never before.”
Dr Rhidian Hughes, chief executive of the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group, welcomed the analysis but said it had taken the CQC “too long” to produce it. He added: “These figures are a wake-up call for the Government to put right its testing programme that is neglecting disabled people of working age who use care services.”
Just over half of the deaths – 206 – involved suspected or confirmed Covid-19, while 180 were not related to the virus. Some 184 people were receiving care from community-based adult social care services, and 195 from residential social care settings.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “We are working to improve our understanding of how different groups may be affected by the virus, including those with learning disabilities.”