07 December 2007
Funding for social care services for people with learning difficulties will be transferred from the NHS to local authorities as part of a wider overhaul, the government has announced.
Social care minister Ivan Lewis launched a consultation on a shake-up of services in the wake of a scathing report by the Healthcare Commission which found 4,000 people with learning difficulties were living in substandard NHS inpatient or residential facilities. Even in the best cases, safety and quality of care were not up to the standard expected.
In response, Lewis published an update of the government's 2001 Valuing people white paper, aimed at improving a wide range of services for adults with learning difficulties.
The Valuing people now consultation document sets out plans to hand the NHS's learning difficulties service budgets to local authorities, although the amount of money to be transferred will be left to local negotiations in each area.
Lewis said: 'Valuing people represented a major step forward in policy and has led to many improvements for some people with learning disabilities in some parts of the country. However, our challenge now is to make independent living and equal citizenship a reality for all people with learning disabilities.'
PFdec2007
