I will be blogging about normal stuff soon, but first a public service announcement.
My good friend Vicky is planning on swimming across Windermere to raise money for Mencap’s Getting it Right campaign. She’s mad, but this is a very important cause so I encourage you to donate at http://www.justgiving.com/gettingitright. As I am not feeling wordy here’s some stolen stuff about why you should give.
As a result of receiving unequal healthcare, people with a learning disability are dying when their lives could be saved.
The Death by indifference campaign began after six people with a learning disability died in NHS care. Their families were not getting answers about why their loved ones had died, or why they were treated so badly because they had a learning disability. They approached Mencap for help.
As a result of Death by indifference an independent inquiry was carried out, which makes strong recommendations for change to give people with a learning disability equal healthcare. The Health Ombudsman also reported on the six cases.
Mencap wanted a judicial review to challenge some of the ombudsman’s findings, but this was denied in the High Court in December 2009. However Mencap was granted a judicial review in the Court of Appeal on a narrower point of law in July 2010.
In her findings from the six Death by indifference cases, the ombudsman did not find ‘service failure’ when reasonable adjustments were not made as required by the Disability Discrimination Act. She still found that the doctors acted within a range of reasonable practice.
However, Mencap believes the ombudsman should have concluded there had been service failure.
The judicial review is based on a narrow but important point of law, so even if we win the judicial review the six original Death by Indifference cases will not be affected. However, it would have significant implications for the ombudsman when she makes decisions on future cases, involving healthcare professionals making reasonable adjustments to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act.
(From Mencap – Death by indifference).
Also, some links to find out more:
Going Against The Flow (Vicky’s swimming blog).
Mencap – Getting it Right (Mencap’s campaign page)
Just Giving Page (because you can never have too many donate links).