P-05-854 Make Learning Disability training mandatory for hospital staff, Correspondence – Petitioner to Committee, 01.07.19

Thank you for sending us Vaughan Gething’s latest response which we believe does not address the core issue of our petition, namely the mandatory training of all NHS staff in learning disability awareness. We truly value his commitment to the Improving Lives programme, but reiterate that mandatory training will be key in delivering the outcomes of the healthcare issues in this programme.

We have worked for the past ten years to make changes within the NHS and have only just scratched the surface. We are still coming across too many people who do not know what a reasonable adjustments is, that there is a care bundle to adhere too, or what their responsibilities are to deliver equal healthcare to the most vulnerable in society. We delivered our first awareness training to consultants in Swansea Bay Health Board this year. They had no awareness of the care bundle, hospital passport, or what reasonable adjustments were. This is not acceptable.

We have trained over 1000 NHS champions (in learning disabilities) this year and the feedback has been very positive. However, one continual theme throughout the feedback both verbal and written is how this training should be made mandatory.

We are still getting cases where people’s loved ones are receiving poor care, and with some resulting in avoidable deaths. This is still happening ten years after Paul’s death. We urge you to give our petition substantial consideration. As a country we are still failing these individuals. We have made progress but now it is time to make a big step forward.

We appreciate the wait for the English report but believe we in Wales could lead the way and this change could help us to do that.

Please refer to our two previous responses.

Thank you for your time.

Jayne Nicholls & Jonathon Ridd

Paul Ridd Foundation

Registered Charity No: 1171739