Reviews / 2012
Transforming care: the Department of Health review of Winterbourne View
Department of Health · work from 2011 · published 2012
What this was
National review after the Panorama exposure of abuse at Winterbourne View, a private hospital for people with learning disabilities. It followed the serious case review and set out a programme to move people out of inappropriate inpatient units.
Why it sits in the hub
The promise to close such hospitals was not kept on the timetable set in 2012. Later reviews of Edenfield and of Essex mental health deaths show how closed inpatient cultures persisted.
Findings
Finding 1
People with learning disabilities were kept in hospital and abused, a long way from home, without effective oversight.
Recommendations in this hub
Paraphrase of the public recommendations, not the official text.
- 1Not implementedNHS and local authorities
Stop using hospitals as long-term homes for people with learning disabilities and autism.
Programmes followed, including Transforming Care. The number of people in such hospitals did not fall as promised.
- 2Partly doneCare Quality Commission
Strengthen inspection of learning-disability inpatient units, including unannounced visits.