To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of learning disabilities mortality review (LeDeR) reports in improving life outcomes for people with learning disabilities.
My Lords, we are committed to reducing the health inequalities faced by people with a learning disability and autistic people. Through our 10-year health plan, we are working to improve access to, and quality of, care, delivering holistic, place-based support. LeDeR annual reports support this aim by compiling insights from local reviews into the deaths of people with a learning disability and autistic people. These insights help ICBs and providers to make improvements to care.
As the Minister will know, the learning disabilities mortality review was commissioned a decade ago, yet people with learning disabilities still die more than 20 years younger than the general population, and 42% of those deaths are avoidable—twice the rate of the general population—so it is evident that the LeDeR process is not creating the systematic changes required. With that in mind, will the Minister commit to meeting me and a small group of people to explore what new enforceable systems are required to end these tragic and unacceptable early deaths?
These are indeed tragic deaths, and avoidable in a number of cases, as the noble Lord rightly says. I can do better than agree to meet him and his colleagues—I have already got agreement from Minister Zubir Ahmed, who is responsible for this area and will be very pleased to meet them.
My Lords, will the Government commit to working further with the National Mental Capacity Forum? One of the leads that comes out in this report is a failure to implement adequately, particularly in giving support to people. Parents are often very important in providing support to a person with learning difficulties, but when that person is an adult they can feel excluded, and they are often very worried as to what will happen after they have died and the person remains alive.
I understand the point that the noble Baroness makes—it is quite right. We will continue to take account of and work to support parents and those they care for in the way that she describes. Certainly, I will also discuss with the Minister continuing the work with the organisation to which she refers.
My Lords, to slightly widen the Question, would the Minister look at the fact that anybody who has a communication problem has historically had very bad results, compared with the rest of the population, when dealing with the National Health Service? Those with a hearing impairment would be a classic example. Will the Government have a good look across the whole spectrum of those who have some form of communication difficulty and try to get those medical professionals briefed in different forms of communication for that very important interview?
Again, I certainly accept the important points that the noble Lord is making. It is unacceptable that there are health inequalities and poorer life outcomes. Indeed, action could be taken. That is why our 10-year health plan recognises these inequalities and identifies particularly those with disabilities as a priority group for more of that holistic, ongoing support. Key to that will be the development of neighbourhood services, where such groups will be prioritised.
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Scriven, for shining a light on this really important issue and for repeating the stat that people with learning disabilities and autism in England die almost 20 years younger than the rest of the population. That in itself is shocking, whatever your views.
The charity Mencap has cited a number of barriers that are stopping people with learning disabilities getting good-quality healthcare. These include failures to recognise that a person with a learning disability is unwell and staff having little understanding about learning disabilities in themselves. Could the Minister update the House on what specific steps the Government are taking, and with which partners they are speaking, to address these concerns?
It bears repeating that it is shocking that people are dying on average up to 20 years earlier. As I have said, that is unacceptable. We work very closely with Mencap and other organisations, but what we are doing already is, for example, to the point that the noble Lord raised, improving identification of people with a learning disability on GP registers. In particular, a reasonable adjustment digital flag is being implemented in care records to make sure that support is appropriately tailored. In other words, if we do not know who people are and where they are, we cannot provide the support. That is an unacceptable reason.
My Lords, according to the learning disabilities mortality review of adults with a learning disability who died in 2023, 25.6% had a care package that did not meet their needs. We know that local authorities continue to face significant challenges to providing adult social care services. Can the Minister say what action the Government are taking to support local authorities as they respond to more complex needs to make sure that every person, including those with learning disabilities, has the correct care plan?