Caroline Spooner, a non-verbal 59-year-old with learning difficulties, was recently referred to hospital with a chest infection. Her family say she deteriorates every time she is admitted
Julie Benson, left, with her sister Caroline and another relative, says little has changed for people with learning difficulties when it comes to NHS care despite a hard-hitting report 17 years agoThe family of a woman with learning disabilities has called for national guidelines for NHS staff on how to treat vulnerable patients after she was treated “like a slab of meat” on multiple visits to hospital.
“I got a phone call from the doctor asking me whether I would agree to a Do Not Resuscitate order, which I would not. I returned to find that Caroline had a curtain wrapped around her bed, so how could anyone spot if she needed help? She wasn’t on oxygen and hadn’t been intubated, but they still wanted me to sign a DNR. Yet she didn’t need high-level medical intervention. It wasn’t a life-or-death situation.
“This is pretty much the same experience we have whenever Caroline is taken to hospital for any reason, which is pretty much every year over the last 15 years,” Ms Benson told“She needs everything done for, yet most hospitals don’t have a hoist, they don’t have the staff to ensure she has been out of bed on a regular basis. And because she is quite often laid flat, she is at risk of aspiration, when something you swallow enters your airway or lungs and can create infection.
Ms Benson said a lack of specialist training among NHS staff compounds the problem. Mencap is supporting the family’s call for better awareness of learning disabilities and the support people with the condition should get from healthcare professionals, as well as calling for more learning disability trained nurses.
Mencap also wants more people to be put on the learning disability register so they get the help they need including instructions to healthcare professionals on how they can be supported and priority for vaccinations like the flu, as currently only about a quarter of people with a learning disability are on it.
“Social care cuts mean there isn’t enough community support for people with a learning disability, so many will miss out on consistent help from a support worker, which can be vital when trying to access overstretched GP and other health services.
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