Exclusive: Ministers will today be accused of failing to implement recommendations from a damning report into the care of NHS patients with learning disabilities.

Former British Medical Association president Baroness Hollins is expected to use a debate in the House of Lords this afternoon to allege that the government has failed to act following the publication last year of the confidential inquiry into premature deaths of people with a learning disability.

The inquiry found that of 238 deaths of people with learning disabilities, 42 per cent were assessed as premature.

The most common reasons for these premature deaths were identified as delays or problems with diagnosis or treatment; and problems with both identifying needs and providing appropriate care when those needs changed.

It said health professionals failed to understand the law on mental capacity, with “many instances” of inappropriate or poorly documented “do not attempt resuscitation” orders. The inquiry also criticised poor record keeping, and concluded the care of people with learning disabilities in the UK was “deficient”.

Baroness Hollins told HSJ she hoped the debate would give clarity on the government’s position.

She said: “I have fought for over 20 years to raise awareness over the failings within the health service to provide an equal service to people with a learning disability.

“It is deeply frustrating that over a year after the inquiry the government have still failed to publish its ‘one year on’ report, which was due in March this year.”

She said the government was “too slow” to take forward the recommendation on monitoring deaths. Baroness Hollins said: “We need a clear timescale for the establishment and reporting of this review body. We owe the families, whose loved ones are just some of the 1,200 people with a learning disability who die needlessly every year in the NHS, a lot more than this.”

A key recommendation made by the inquiry was a proposal to establish a national mortality review body that would monitor deaths of people with learning disability and recommend action where clusters of deaths were identified.

The government accepted this recommendation in its response to the inquiry last year, saying it would reveal details of its plans by March 2014.

NHS England has said it will consider setting up a learning disability premature mortality review process, but not until June 2015.

The learning disability charity Mencap said people with learning disabilities suffered “appalling discrimination” in the NHS.

Jan Tregelles, chief executive of the charity, said: “People with a learning disability and their families have waited too long for change. It is shocking that the government has failed to outline a clear plan more than 14 months since the confidential inquiry.

“Mencap is calling for the health secretary Jeremy Hunt to act immediately to outline a clear plan on implementing the recommendations of the confidential inquiry – which is over a year old. 

“Every day they fail to act is another day when three people with a learning disability will die needlessly in our health system.”

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