Call for Government to act to end institutional services
By Catherine Walker
This year there have been critical reports on institutional services. Many of these reports were in the wake 
of the Panorama broadcast in May of this year which highlighted the plight of individuals with learning disabilities who were abused by the staff employed to care for them.
The press release below calls for changes. ‘There is an Alternative’ asks that the government acts to put an end to institutional services:
There is an alternative
Press release from the Association for Supported Living
The Association for Supported Living (ASL) today publishes There Is An Alternative, a report demonstrating that community-based support for people with learning disabilities is more effective, safer and cheaper than institutional care. The report calls for the government to act to put an end to institutional services.
There Is An Alternative includes 10 case studies of people who moved from institutional services to supported living services. In each case quality of life improved dramatically, while costs fell significantly.
There Is An Alternative was prompted by an edition of Panorama broadcast in May this year, which showed people with learning disabilities in an institution (Winterbourne View, Bristol) being abused by staff employed to care for them.
Kim Foo, chair of the ASL says:
“It is quite possible to provide high quality, cost effective alternatives to the restrictive, expensive institutional services that too many local authorities continue to purchase. We call on David Cameron and his government to finally put an end to the abuse of some of our society's most vulnerable members.”
Writing in the report’s foreword, Professor David Sines CBE says:
“This inspiring report provides optimism for the future and exposes the deficits that continue to imbue existent specialist hospital services that perpetuate an institutional model of care delivery.”
The Association for Supported Living is a not-for-profit organisation that represents organisations that support about 30,000 people with learning disabilities, with combined annual budgets approaching £1 billion.
