According to the latest Learning Disability Census published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), just under half of inpatients with learning disabilities who were in specialist inpatient units on 30th September 2015 were also receiving inpatient care at the time of the first census in 2013.
Out of the 3,000 inpatients studied as part of the survey, 26 per cent said that they experienced one adverse experience (such as accidents, physical assault and self-harm), as a minimum, in addition to at least one instance of restraint or seclusion.
22 per cent of men recorded at least one adverse experience and one restrictive measure, whereas 39 per cent of women said the same, though more men took part in the survey than women.
The report focused on results for England, and it revealed that 75 per cent of inpatients were male, while self-harm was the most commonly cited adverse experience recorded.
It also highlighted that:
- 72 per cent of patients received antipsychotic medication in the 28 days prior to the census collection, compared to 73 per cent in 2014
- The number of inpatients aged between 18-64 stood at 92 per cent, which is in stark contrast to England’s average population age distribution which shows that 59 per cent of people are in the same age category
- Inpatients had a longer average stay in 2015 at 554 days, compared to 547 days during 2014
One of the other trends identified was that more inpatients with learning disabilities were travelling over 100km from their home in 2015 when compared to 2014 – 23 per cent made the journey this year, up from 19 per cent last year.