Michelle Sowden 💙

The annual LeDeR report has been published today, nearly 10 months late, along with a Ministerial Statement. Autistic people and families could be forgiven for thinking it’s more about saving face than saving lives. Report: kcl.ac.uk/ioppn/assets/pdfs/… Ministerial Statement: questions-statements.parliam… Year after year, autistic people and people with a learning disability continue to die prematurely, and year after year LeDeR reports much the same conclusions. Yet the Government is still not taking national action. Data about autistic people without a learning disability is wholly inadequate, with no clear plans to improve it. Only 53 completed reviews for 2023 are included for this group. The Government has given only a vague assurance that it is ‘committed to maintaining LeDeR going forward’. No acknowledgement that LeDeR was removed from the NHS Planning Guidance that actually directs NHS priorities. The foreword by the group of people with learning disabilities has - for two years running - referred to this as the SPOT THE DIFFERENCE REPORT because they have been saying the same thing each year. “We don’t want to be an empty chair at Christmas. We do not want to be just a memory or a photograph on the wall” Crucial questions remain: What will the Government do right now to improve the LeDeR data in future years? And what urgent action will it take to drive national change to prevent future deaths? #LeDeR #NHSEngland #autism #preventabledeaths #learningdisability