Sir Jonathan Michael - deputy managing director for healthcare, BT Health, has conducted an independent inquiry into health services for people with learning disabilities.

 

Published today (Tuesday 29 July), the results of the inquiry conclude that people with learning disabilities can face unnecessary suffering - and sometimes even death - because laws and guidance designed to give them full access to healthcare are not being followed.

 

In the report, Jonathan emphasises there is no need for a new legal framework. “The necessary legislation is already in place - the challenge is to make it work as effectively for adults and children with learning disabilities as anyone else,” he said.

 

He said he accepted the invitation from the secretary of state to chair the inquiry after reading the report Death by Indifference - published by mental health charity Mencap - about the experiences of six families whose relatives died.

 

“I have since recognised that addressing the difficulties faced by people with learning disabilities in accessing high standards of healthcare does not require specialist knowledge about learning disabilities,” he said.

 

“What matters is that people with learning disabilities are included as equal citizens, with equal rights of access to equally effective treatment.”

 

To achieve the changes he thinks are necessary, Jonathan makes a series of recommendations. “There are many examples of good practice to show us the way,” he said. “I hope my recommendations will make a real difference to the quality of healthcare in the future for people with learning disabilities.”

 

Jonathan was chief executive of Guys and St Thomas’ Hospitals NHS Trust immediately before he joined BT in 2007, following a career as a physician and in hospital management.