A new report from the Women and Equalities Committee (WEC) concluded that overall care and outcomes of people with learning disabilities and autistic people fall below acceptable standards leading to significant health inequalities.
The cross-party committee of MPs also found that over 75% of people with a learning disability are still not registered on the learning disability register and many had to convince their GP to put them it, often only once the media and politicians were involved.
It is now calling on the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England to work with national and local learning disability organisations and charities and the Royal College of General Practitioners to investigate why eligible people are not on the learning disability register and take appropriate action to increase registration.
The report also suggests setting up a national board to improve health inequalities, which is led by people with a learning disability and autistic people, people with parental and caring experience and health and social care professionals. Ministers should grant the board the responsibility and accountability necessary to drive change in health outcomes.
Other issues highlighted were radically increasing the funding allocated to reducing waiting times for an autism assessment and developing and trialing an initiative aimed at improving public understanding of autism in women and girls by the end of 2024.
MPs on the Committee also recommended Ministers explain why the number of autistic people detained in mental health hospitals has increased and how it plans to reduce that number, and by when. Ministers, it added, should set out the measures it will take to improve access to and availability of community-based alternatives to inpatient settings, including the additional resources it plans to allocate to support this.
Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, Rt Hon Caroline Nokes MP said: “It is deeply concerning to see that health inequalities continue to be significant among people with learning disabilities and autism. The system has to work better to ensure all people with a learning disability have access to good healthcare.
“The Government has fallen short on its commitment to halve the number of people with a learning disability and autistic people inappropriately detained in mental health hospitals. It must learn from previous failings and increase support for community-based alternatives to detention and do more to stop people reaching crisis in the first instance.”
The report also warned people with a learning disability and autistic people “face the widest employment gap of all people with disabilities and find it difficult to get their foot in the door”.
It called on the Government to publish a new disability employment goal based on relative measures and set out how it plans to achieve it; ensure that work to improve Disability Confident and Access to Work includes reviewing the extent to which those policies are helping employers to recruit and support people with a learning disability and autistic people.
WEC recommended ministers exempt people with a learning disability and autistic people who do not have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) from the Maths and English skills requirement for apprenticeships and roll out the autism accreditation scheme in all Jobcentres.
Mel Merritt, Head of Policy and Campaigns at the National Autistic Society, said she welcomed the recommendations in the report, which were informed by evidence from its Head of Influencing and Research, Tim Nicholls, and Young Ambassador Maya Stretton.
She added: “We call on the Government to implement them as soon as possible. It must be a political priority to reduce the number of autistic people detained in mental health hospitals, reduce waiting times for autism assessments, increase the employment of autistic people, and remove barriers so autistic people can get the healthcare they need. We will continue campaigning for a society that works for and values autistic people, is free from discrimination and guarantees the right help and support.”
