Patients' human rights threatened

People with learning disabilities do not always have their human rights upheld and generally receive poor care, the first ever audit of services in England has revealed

People with learning disabilities do not always have their human rights upheld and generally receive poor care, the first ever audit of services in England has revealed.

During an investigation of 89 NHS and private organisations, the Healthcare Commission was forced to refer six services, run by five different bodies, to local councils under the Protection for Vulnerable Adults scheme due to concerns about care.

The commission admitted in its report, published last week, it could not guarantee the human rights of individuals within services were being upheld.

Staffing levels and training also raised concern. The HCC found around a third of staff employed by organisations were agency or bank staff and there were very high sickness and vacancy rates – the average vacancy rate being 10% over all services.