Chair of the Senedd’s Cross-Party Autism Group, North Wales MS Mark Isherwood, has spoken of his dismay that some Autistic people and/or people with a learning disability in Wales are still being sectioned under the Mental Health Act or detained under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 in secure hospital settings in Wales and England.
Speaking in yesterday’s Member Debate – ‘Care Settings for Autism and Learning Disability’, which he co-submitted, Mr Isherwood referred to the Stolen Lives “Homes not Hospitals” protest outside the Senedd earlier this year, which was supported by Learning Disability Wales and 13 other organisations including Mencap Cymru, to raise awareness of the lack of movement by the Welsh Government on this issue.
Speaking on the matter in the Senedd ahead of the protest, Mr Isherwood stressed that “there has been a Learning Disability Strategy in place in Wales since 2018, which seeks to ensure that Autistic people or people with a learning disability who are in long-term placements are discharged and able to live their lives in the community. However, Learning Disability Wales states that ‘approximately 150 Autistic people or people with a learning disability are known to be in a hospital setting, over two thirds for over 10 years’, although numbers don't include all people and all settings’ ”.
He said at that time “we therefore need to know why such a high number are still in long-term hospital placements”.
Speaking yesterday, he said:
“As Learning Disability Wales said: ‘Over 40 years ago, Wales was one of the first countries in the world to launch a strategy to get people with a learning disability out of long-stay hospitals and back into the community, yet we seem to be going backwards and slipping towards re-institutionalisation’.
“After the Minister for Mental Health and Early Years wrote to Stolen Lives campaigners in August, they expressed concern that the letter they had sent to the previous Minister in May, which was detailed and asked some important questions, had still not received a reply, and that they had not had an opportunity to meet with the new Minister to put their case forward.
“The Minister’s letter also stated ‘everyone has a care and support plan in place, which is regularly reviewed to ensure their ongoing care is appropriate’.
“However, I am regularly battling with Local Authorities on behalf of constituents, where their Care and Support Plan Reviews have been drafted in breach of both the timescales specified by the Social Services and Wellbeing Wales Act, and the Act’s requirement for the individual and/or their carer, family members or advocate to be an active participant in the review.
“Without robust Welsh Government monitoring and evaluation, its legislation is, effectively, redundant.”
Mr Isherwood went on to refer to cases where Autistic young people have been put in hospital.
He said:
“As one parent of an Autistic son with severe learning disabilities told us, they ‘had a phone call from a senior member of staff at the Health Board telling us that their only option now was to put their son in hospital’.
“Another stated ‘my child was stolen and put into emergency support care because carers could not be found’.
“Another stated ‘a Best Interest meeting stated it was NOT in my son’s best interest to be in the Assessment and Treatment Unit, but as there was nothing else available he'd have to stay there’.”
He added:
“Autism is not a mental health condition, it is a lifelong developmental condition that shapes how people see the world and how they connect with others.
“Many Autistic people have meltdowns. This is not the same as a temper tantrum, not bad or naughty behaviour. When a person is completely overwhelmed, and their condition means it is difficult to express that in another way, it is understandable that the result is a meltdown.
“Locking these people up should not be happening. Transformative change is needed to remedy these human rights abuses.”
