Verdict on Valuing People delivered

All areas of government should give the needs of people with
learning difficulties greater priority, the Learning Disability
Task Force’s first annual report has urged.

Making Things Happen praises the Department of Health and
the Valuing People support team for championing the cause of people
with learning difficulties but says more must be done.

Chris Davies, task force co-chairperson and Somerset Council
director of social services, said: “Lots of good plans have been
made. But it is still too soon for much to have changed in the
lives of people with learning disabilities.”

He added that professionals and people with learning difficulties
were worried there was not enough money to implement all of Valuing
People and that the task force would look carefully at these
concerns.

The task force is concerned the government will be unable to close
the last 21 long-stay hospitals in time for the April 2004
deadline, leaving 500 people living in them. “The NHS must look
into this urgently and make sure all those hospitals are closed,”
the report says.

– Making Things Happen from www.doh.gov.uk/learningdisabilities