The Healthcare Commission (HCC) is continuing its efforts to improve care standards for people with learning disabilities following its critical review last year.
Visits to 48 specialist inpatient learning disability services began last week and will include revisits to ten of the services inspected as part of the 2007 national audit.
Last year, the Commission called for ‘sweeping and sustained’ changes in learning disability services after its audit found many were substandard.
In 2007, inspectors visited 154 services covering 68 of the 89 organisations. This year’s visits will mean the HCC will have inspected services at all 89.
Inspectors will be looking for evidence of quality and safety and reports on each site will be published on the Commission's website early next year.
Anna Walker, Chief Executive at the Healthcare Commission, said: ‘If we don't keep the pressure up, we risk being in the same place in the future talking about the same problems. Indeed, I expect to see that services have already improved when we begin the follow-up visits.’
The HCC has also published a report on findings from an audit of eight specialist services for adolescents carried out in 2007. Services were generally safe with young people protected from abuse and the majority were meeting their health needs.
But the report found that the adolescents could be given more independence and control over their lives and that staff should do more to help them develop independent living skills such as shopping and cooking.
Two specialist adolescent services will be inspected this time.