Hospitals into homes

The latest episode of BBC radio 4’s “File on 4” show reflects on the progress made to get people with learning disabilities and autism out of hospital units and into homes in the community with good support, since the shocking revelations at Winterbourne View 5 years ago.

To listen to the full episode, please click here.

“Families of those still stuck in these units say patients are trapped in the system with no clear plan or apparent will to get them home. For those eventually discharged, almost as many others are admitted – parents say, because there aren’t enough community support services.

But if people are let out by the institutions, what’s does so-called ‘supported living’ in the community look like? File on 4 hears concerns about the quantity and quality of this promised care. Parents describe living on the brink of a crisis that could land their children back in a cycle of being sectioned and locked up.

NHS England says the plans are taking shape. But families say it’s like living in The Twilight Zone, in a limbo hidden from mainstream view and unable to find a way out.

So just how successful is the landmark ‘Homes not Hospitals’ plan, that aims to improve life for some of the most vulnerable patients in the NHS?”

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