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OxFSN – Statement: Whorlton Hall Abuse – Panorama exposé

May 30, 2019 By OxFSN Webmaster

Oxfordshire Family Support Network – Statement: Whorlton Hall Abuse – Panorama exposé


The abuse, mistreatment, mental and physical torture of people with learning disabilities and/or Autism at Whorlton Hall has shocked, distressed and angered all of us. How can this still be happening, 8 years on from Winterbourne and following the Government’s public commitment to transform care?


OxFSN believe that it is too easy to simply blame the culture of one institution and specific individuals who perpetrate this abhorrent abuse. While these individuals and those who stood by and did nothing are clearly culpable there is system wide responsibility. Health Care and support Providers, Commissioners, Local Authorities, the CQC and the Government must all be accountable and accept responsibility for allowing this to continue.


Families all around the country have been raising concerns for years about the poor treatment in these places and their voices have been ignored, individually and collectively. It should not have been the responsibility of an undercover reporter to expose this abuse when systems and processes are meant to be there to safeguard people. We urge statutory agencies around the country to listen to, believe and support families who flag up concerns about their loved ones and take immediate action when they hear about poor practice.


We are seriously concerned that CQC could have rated this hospital as ‘Good’ only last year, when the hostile culture of that service was clearly, deeply embedded. The environment alone was oppressive and grim beyond words and this should have raised immediate concerns. We are shocked that there were 100 visits from officials and NHS staff in the year before the abuse was uncovered and a former Inspector’s warnings, as far back as 2015 were ignored.


Anyone visiting these institutions has to know what a good service looks and feels like and so we therefore have to seriously question the quality and skills of the inspectors as well as those undertaking Care and Treatment Reviews and the processes of both. We are also deeply concerned that there is still a reliance on questioning staff and other professionals and believing them, rather than using their eyes and ears to observe people and speak to them and their families, without staff being present. If any service supporting vulnerable people, whether supported living, residential care or hospital doesn’t demonstrate that they work with and involve people’s families it should be a huge ‘red flag’.


There will inevitably be discussions about funding. It’s a fact that despite increasing need, successive Governments have chronically underfunded social care services year on year for decades. This underfunding has led local authorities to focus on fire – fighting crises rather than on prevention and developing local community based solutions. While there is a high financial cost to keeping people in this non/abusive ‘care’, this is clearly not just about money, it is about how and where money is being spent. People end up in these institutions when their current support breaks down, at
a horrendous human cost so, a focus has to be on prevention and local crisis provision. Money could be better spent on ensuring staff are better trained and appropriately paid for the skills needed to support people to prevent crisis intervention being needed. When or if there is a breakdown in support or people need treatment they should be assessed, treated and discharged as soon as possible, close to home, as with any other medical treatment. Until that happens large private hospitals will continue to be paid millions of pounds to, at best, keep people incarcerated and away from their families and at worst tortured and abused and make a profit in the process. We believe that the solutions lie with a total rethink of the so called system, which is clearly not fit for purpose. This needs real blue sky thinking done in total partnership with families and people with learning disabilities and autism, with a funding system that bridges the gap whilst that takes place.


Oxfordshire currently has three people in Assessment and Treatment Units out of county, and OxFSN supports two of their families. We are working hard alongside NHS and Oxfordshire County Council staff to ensure that these families are listened to and supported and their loved ones come back closer to their families. As a family carer led charity OxFSN will continue to work alongside families and our local services to come up with coproduced local solutions, so there is no need to send people to these large private institutions in the future. And, we will continue to press NHS England for the funding needed to do it!


We aim to build on the good foundations that we have started to lay here through the local Transforming Care Programme. There is much to do but we know what needs to happen locally and will continue to strive to ensure it happens. Alongside this we will continue to support all those families whose fear and anxiety levels will have increased to unprecedented levels. Trust has inevitably been damaged by this and families will feel they need to be ever more vigilant to protect their loved ones.


Finally, our thoughts are with the victims and their families who have had to endure this horrific experience. We thank them for sharing their experiences, it must have been desperately difficult to do this. Our thoughts are also with all the people with learning disabilities and autism currently detained in Assessment and Treatment Units around the country and their families. As parents and family carers ourselves we can only begin to imagine how they are all feeling right now and hope they all get the support they need.


Gail Hanrahan
On behalf of Oxfordshire Family Support Network

(PDF File: OxFSN_Statement_Whorlton_Hall_Abuse-Panorama.pdf) 

Filed Under: News, OxFSN Articles, Publications, Resources

REACH – Reflections on Supported Living today

April 4, 2019 By OxFSN Webmaster

REACH Standards – constantly aspire for better Reflections on Supported Living today.

The Radio 4 programme, File on 4 on 12 February 2019 looked at supported living and what the increases in unexplained deaths and serious injuries mean for those living in supported living environments. At LDE we believe that institutionalisation can happen in any setting if strong values and principles are not driving how the support is designed and delivered. Good https://epilepsy.wales/kamagra-sildenafil care and support cannot be achieved when economic factors rather than the people supported have come to dominate the shape of available care models…

To read more follow this link: REACH – Reflections on Supported Living today

Filed Under: Publications, Resources

Family Investment in Supported Housing

January 23, 2019 By OxFSN Webmaster

Follow link to: A guide for people who want to purchase property for family members with disabilities to live in.

Family_Invest_in_Supported_Housing-PROOF-1

Filed Under: Publications, Resources

Examples of Disability Related Expenditure

August 3, 2018 By OxFSN Webmaster

Disability Related Expenditure

Contributing to the cost of your care – is a 25% allowance enough?

Anyone with a personal budget and claiming DLA (Disability Living Allowance) or PIP (Personal Independence Payment) will no doubt by now have received a letter from Oxfordshire Adult Social Care telling them what their new contribution towards the cost of their care will be.

This means that from the 1st October the amount that you are expected to pay towards the cost of your care services may have either increased or decreased depending on what you previously paid. OCC will no longer carry out an individual face to face financial assessment of your income and savings unless requested.  Instead they will send out forms for individuals to provide details of their income and savings.  They will deduct 25% of the care element of either DLA (Disability Living Allowance) or PIP (Personal Independence Payment) to allow you to keep part of this benefit to help towards any extra costs you may have due to your disability.

The care act statutory guidance says that the council must leave you with enough money “to pay for necessary disability-related expenditure to meet any needs which are not being met by the local authority”.  If you feel that your disability related expenditure is more then 25% each month then you can request a visit from the Financial Assessment team to ask for an individual assessment.

They can be contacted on 01865 323642 or FinancialAssessmentTeam@Oxfordshire.gov.uk

Read the document for examples of Disability Related Expenditure:

Disability_Related_Expenditure

Filed Under: Publications, Resources

Joint Statement from the Oxfordshire Transforming Care Partnership Board: Review into the deaths of people with learning disabilities 2017-18

July 2, 2018 By OxFSN Webmaster

Joint Statement from the Oxfordshire Transforming Care Partnership Board:
Oxfordshire review into the deaths of people with learning disabilities 2017-18

Statement from the co-chairs of Oxfordshire’s Transforming Care Partnership Board

“While we have known for many years that people with learning disabilities die earlier than the general population, the Learning Disability Mortality Review report made for grim reading and was deeply upsetting.

As co-chairs of Oxfordshire’s Transforming Care Partnership Board we feel it is important that we make public the work that is being done locally to explain how deaths of people with learning disabilities are investigated in our county. Despite the lower numbers of deaths reviewed, it is clear that there is still much work to be done to address these inequalities. We are however pleased that all deaths are now being reviewed in such detail. We welcome the recommendations contained in this report and the spirit of transparency and openness in which it has been shared.“

Gail Hanrahan (Oxfordshire Family Support Network) and Paul Scarrott (My Life My Choice)

Follow the link to read the full statement: Oxfordshire Transforming Care Partnership Board: Oxfordshire review into the deaths of people with learning disabilities 2017-18

Filed Under: News, OxFSN Articles, Publications, Resources

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