Getting equal

People with learning disabilities die on average 16 years earlier than their non-disabled peers, but to tackle this inequality will require changes in healthcare and it has to be led by the government. The scandal of avoidable deaths of people with learning disabilities has been described as being on a scale with what happened at Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, but taking place every year. The Confidential Inquiry into the Premature Deaths of People with Learning Disabilities, published in March, concluded that people with learning disabilities die 16 years sooner on average than the general population and more than a third