{"id":48475,"date":"2020-09-01T15:41:41","date_gmt":"2020-09-01T14:41:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=48475"},"modified":"2020-09-08T18:00:46","modified_gmt":"2020-09-08T17:00:46","slug":"covid-19-shows-that-the-lives-of-people-with-a-learning-disability-are-still-not-treated-as-equal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2020\/09\/01\/covid-19-shows-that-the-lives-of-people-with-a-learning-disability-are-still-not-treated-as-equal\/","title":{"rendered":"Covid-19 shows that the lives of people with a learning disability are still not treated as equal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"standfirst\">A pandemic does not abrogate our responsibility to protect the lives and human rights of people with a learning disability, says Keri-Mich\u0450le Lodge<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The covid-19 pandemic amplifies the everyday discrimination experienced by people with a learning disability (also known as intellectual disability), yet this group remains glaringly absent from the UK government\u2019s coronavirus strategy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The symptoms of this neglect have been present throughout the past few months. First, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nice.org.uk\/news\/article\/nice-updates-rapid-covid-19-guideline-on-critical-care\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">issued a clarification<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> about people with a learning disability only <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">after<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> publishing guidance on using the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nice.org.uk\/guidance\/ng159\/resources\/clinical-frailty-scale-pdf-8712262765\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Clinical Frailty Scale<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to identify who may be appropriate for critical care, demonstrating that this group is, at best, an afterthought. Worse still are <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hsj.co.uk\/coronavirus\/learning-disabilities-patients-told-they-may-be-too-frail-for-mechanical-ventilation-if-they-get-covid-19\/7027318.article\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">the reports that followed of people in learning disability care homes<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> being told they were unlikely to be prioritised for hospital care if they contracted covid-19. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Clinicians have also had to be reminded that learning disabilities and Down\u2019s syndrome should never be used as a reason for issuing a \u201cdo not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation\u201d (DNACPR) order, nor should they be used to describe the underlying or only cause of death. This clarification had to be issued in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.england.nhs.uk\/coronavirus\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/2020\/04\/C0166-Letter-DNACPR.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">a letter from NHS England and NHS Improvement<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> after concerns were raised of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/370\/bmj.m2848\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">blanket restrictions being applied<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. For people with a learning disability, covid-19 brings a frightening reminder that their lives may be deemed expendable.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">People with a learning disability already experience significant health inequalities, including <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/24332307\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">premature avoidable death<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Respiratory conditions are <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bristol.ac.uk\/media-library\/sites\/sps\/leder\/LeDeR_2019_annual_report_FINAL2.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">the most common cause of death<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> among people with a learning disability, suggesting that they may be at greater risk of dying from covid-19. However, it was not until June 2020 that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cqc.org.uk\/news\/stories\/cqc-publishes-data-deaths-people-learning-disability\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">data were published by the Care Quality Commission (CQC)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which showed that between 10 April and 15 May, 386 people with a learning disability receiving care from CQC registered providers died, compared to 165 people in the same period in 2019\u2014a 134% increase. Covid-19 accounted for 206 of these deaths (more than half).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">These figures are sobering, and that\u2019s before we even consider that people who live in their own homes, or who live with family, remain uncounted. In August 2020, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bristol.ac.uk\/media-library\/sites\/sps\/leder\/Summary%20of%20findings%2050%20LeDeR%20reveiws%20of%20deaths%20related%20to%20COVID19.pdf\">a review of 50 people with a learning disability<\/a> whose death had been attributed to covid-19 highlighted how a high proportion of them had comorbidities, mobility impairments, and\/or mental health needs. The author suggested that these factors may lead to an increased risk of covid-19\u2014either because of these people\u2019s need for regular and sustained contact for support, or, more troublingly, because these characteristics \u201cunderpin prejudicial attitudes towards care, treatment and judgements about ceilings of care.\u201d Understanding the causes of, and factors contributing to, the deaths of people with a learning disability during the pandemic in all the settings in which they live is urgently required so that lessons can be learnt ahead of any \u201csecond wave.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Access to covid-19 testing is vital to facilitate this. Although <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/apply-coronavirus-test-care-home\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">regular testing is now available<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for residents and staff in care homes, this will miss those with a learning disability who live in their own homes with support or with family. Priority testing should therefore be extended to people with a learning disability living in the community and their carers. And, although <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/get-coronavirus-test\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">home testing can be ordered via the government\u2019s website<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, this is not always accessible to people with a learning disability. NHS England needs to urgently ensure that accessible information about covid-19 and testing, such as that produced by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/551cfff9e4b0f74d74cb307e\/t\/5f2933eb1b717317ccb4402b\/1596535827313\/Having+a+Home+Test+for+Coronavirus.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Books Beyond Words<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, is commissioned and disseminated. In addition, clarity and guidance is needed over what clinicians should do when a person with a learning disability deemed to lack capacity, but who is considered to need covid-19 testing in their best interests, actively resists this.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Coping with the pandemic is challenging for all of us, but this is particularly true for people with a learning disability, who may not understand why certain changes are happening, and who may have even less choice and control over their lives than usual. We need to understand how loss of contact with family and friends, day services, respite, voluntary roles or employment, and grief is affecting the emotional wellbeing of this group. People with a learning disability can express distress behaviourally, and it is already known that they are at risk of being <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.england.nhs.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/stomp-gp-prescribing-v17.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">inappropriately prescribed psychotropic medication<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to control what is seen as \u201cchallenging behaviour<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u201d More than ever, this must be monitored to ensure that the commitment to reducing this inappropriate prescribing does not slip.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Scrutinising psychotropic medication use is particularly important for the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/digital.nhs.uk\/data-and-information\/publications\/statistical\/learning-disability-services-statistics\/provisional-statistics-at-june-2020-mhsds-april-2020-final\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2085<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">children, young adults, and adults<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> with a learning disability <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/files.digital.nhs.uk\/BA\/D5C3CC\/ldsm-Jun-20-main-report.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">in inpatient mental health\u00a0 settings<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. People in these settings are at risk of other restrictive practices, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/digital.nhs.uk\/data-and-information\/publications\/statistical\/learning-disability-services-statistics\/provisional-statistics-at-june-2020-mhsds-april-2020-final\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">such as physical restraint and seclusion<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. In recent years, two undercover documentaries at <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cqc.org.uk\/news\/releases\/cqc-report-winterbourne-view-confirms-its-owners-failed-protect-people-abuse\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Winterbourne View Hospital<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cqc.org.uk\/location\/1-894121431\/reports\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Whorlton Hall<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> exposed the mistreatment and abuse of people in such settings. Yet the pandemic has led to limits on visits by family and friends, and the suspension of unannounced CQC visits, heightening the risk of abusive cultures developing. Covid-19 does not abrogate the responsibility to protect the human rights of this vulnerable group, and it is vital that unannounced CQC visits resume.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Furthermore, the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/coronavirus-covid-19-changes-to-the-care-act-2014\/care-act-easements-guidance-for-local-authorities\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Care Act easements<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> set out under the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.legislation.gov.uk\/ukpga\/2020\/7\/contents\/enacted\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">UK Coronavirus Act 2020<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0has given local authorities the power to make decisions about who is most in need of social care and who might need to have their care package reduced or withdrawn. The decisions authorities make as part of this have the potential to leave people with a learning disability without social care services that are crucial to maintaining their wellbeing. Commissioners and local authorities must maintain their commitment to providing appropriate and effective community based support for people with a learning disability to reduce the risk of inappropriate admissions to inpatient facilities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The response to the covid-19 pandemic highlights that there is still a long way to go to embed the idea that the lives of people with a learning disability matter. As we look forward to emerging into a \u201cnew normal,\u201d we must ensure that people with a learning disability are not left behind. And each of us must ensure that in our own clinical practice we strive to address health inequalities and uphold the human rights of people with a learning disability.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div id=\"m_6028158671734958739replybody1\">\n<div>\n<blockquote>\n<div>\n<div id=\"m_6028158671734958739v1gmail-m_3571927382712602152forwardbody1\">\n<div>\n<p><em><strong>Keri-Mich\u0450le\u00a0<span class=\"il\">Lodge<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0is a consultant in the\u00a0psychiatry of intellectual disability in Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust,\u00a0and a sibling carer for her brother.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Competing interests:<\/strong> <span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">I have read and understood BMJ policy on declaration of interests and declare the following interests: None.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A pandemic does not abrogate our responsibility to protect the lives and human rights of people with a learning disability, says Keri-Mich\u0450le Lodge [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2020\/09\/01\/covid-19-shows-that-the-lives-of-people-with-a-learning-disability-are-still-not-treated-as-equal\/\">More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48478,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[236],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhs"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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