Long-stay beds to go

Details of a plan to move people with learning difficulties out of long-stay hospitals within five years have been revealed by the Scottish Executive.

Ministers have accepted expert advice that the 2,450 people with learning difficulties living in hospitals would be better off in community care.

Speaking during a parliamentary debate, Deputy Community Care Minister, Iain Gray, said institutionalised care was no longer suitable for people with learning disabilities.

He will be asking health boards to close Scotland's 25 remaining long-stay hospitals by 2005, freeing resources for other areas of the health service.

Mr Gray said the guiding principle for the change was that learning difficulty was not an illness and should not, therefore, be dealt with in hospital.

'Same as you'

"We need to have individual solutions - for some people it will mean living in supported accommodation, for some it will mean living in their own tenancy and for others it will mean working in a job," he said.

"The title of the report, 'The Same As You', is really the core of it.

"People with learning disabilities want a chance at education, they want somewhere to live and they want a chance at a job, all the things that you and I want."

The executive concedes the new target is a tall order but it insists institutionalised care is no longer suitable for people with learning difficulties.

The history of institutionalised care has thrown up some disturbing cases. Two brothers spent 60 years in hospital with the reason for their admission lost in the mists of time.

Norman Dunning, of the Scottish mental health charity Enable, welcomed the minister's plan, but he said implementation would be difficult.

'A scandal'

He pointed out that the number of people in long-stay hospitals in Scotland equalled that of England.

"Our organisation has shown that once you give people a chance to show what they can do some of them can live fairly independently in their own flat, maybe even take jobs when previously they have just been sitting in hospital. It's a scandal," he said.

The larger sites earmarked for closure include Merchiston (179 places), Kirklands (179), Craig Phadrig (53), Strathmartine (99), Lennox Castle and Ayrshire and Arran (110).

A small number of places will still be required for assessment and treatment of people with complex needs, but these will be in smaller settings.