Mencap report on 'shocking' deaths sparks inquiry

Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, has announced an independent inquiry into allegations that six patients died in NHS hospitals as a result of institutional discrimination.

Ms Hewitt said she had been "shocked" to hear details of the cases in a report from Mencap, the charity for people with learning disabilities, and promised the inquiry would be held "without delay".

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The cases included a 43-year-old man who went without food for 26 days after suffering a stroke, a 26-year-old woman who was denied treatment for cancer because doctors thought she would be uncooperative and a 30-year-old man with a broken leg who developed pneumonia.

All the patients had severe learning disabilities and communication problems. Mencap said they shared common factors and called for an investigation into the "avoidable" deaths. It said there was "widespread ignorance and indifference" in the NHS to people with learning disabilities.

The report follows a 2004 inquiry by the charity, which exposed the unequal health care given to people with learning disabilities.

The new cases had exposed "underlying bad practice", the charity said. None of the NHS trusts was identified in the report because the complaints are still being investigated by the Healthcare Commission, the NHS inspectorate. Certain ones had been upheld and others referred back to the individual trusts, it said.

The commission said there would be an immediate review of the cases to identify "common themes", apparently having failed to spot the pattern earlier. But it was unclear whether it would carry out the independent inquiry.

Ms Hewitt said that a "major part" of the inquiry would be to "examine the six cases" and to look at any potential implications for care practice nationally.

"I have also asked to meet with the families of those involved in these shocking cases as soon as possible to hear for myself their concerns," she said.

A spokesperson for the Healthcare Commission said: "Our role is limited to commenting on the quality of care and treatment provided. We cannot comment on whether sub-standard care led to a death. We are not the coroner or a court."

The commission has made improving the care of people with learning disabilities one of its priorities and is conducting a nationwide audit of services after widespread abuse and neglect were exposed in investigations in Cornwall and Surrey. The new claims suggest the neglect extends to the health care provided to them by the NHS.

Dame Jo Williams, chief executive of Mencap, welcomed Ms Hewitt's announcement of an inquiry, but said: "The fundamental question is whether this will bring about the cultural change in the NHS needed to stop people with a learning disability dying prematurely."

The British Medical Association's head of science and ethics, Dr Vivienne Nathanson, said people with learning disabilities had the same rights to health care as the rest of the population.

"As doctors, we believe it is unacceptable for their needs to be ignored."

A litany of ill treatment and indifference: how the patients died

TOM, 20, had profound learning disabilities and attended a residential school. He began showing signs of distress and his parents took him to a doctor. A consultant recommended that a gastroenterologist examine his digestive system, but the advice was not acted on for more than a year. He started losing weight and displaying unusual behaviour such as gouging his head, which his parents took to mean he was in pain. Finally their concerns were acted on and tests showed he had an ulcerated oesophagus. He had an operation to insert a feeding tube, but he was already weak and died shortly afterwards on 25 May 2004 MENCAP

TED, 61

He was admitted to hospital for an operation relating to urine retention. He had virtually no speech. He developed a post-operative infection and was moved to intensive care, but recovered and was discharged. The next day, the nurse in his residential unit saw he had a bloodshot eye, a chesty cough and that there was blood in his urine. The GP was called, but he said there was no need to return Ted to hospital. Later that day Ted began to vomit and collapsed. He died soon after of aspiration pneumonia on 27 May 2004.

MARTIN, 43

He was admitted to hospital in November 2005 after suffering a stroke. He had no speech. The stroke aff-ected his swallowing so he was put on a drip, but he kept pulling it out. He was visited by speech therapists who recorded that he could not swallow and "alternative feeding methods should be considered". Yet nothing was done. By the third week in hospital, his veins had collapsed so doctors inserted a feeding tube into his stomach. After 21 days without food Martin was too weak to undergo the operation. He died five days later on 21 December.

WARREN, 30

He lived with his parents and although he had very little speech, they could understand him. A doctor called to examine him because he appeared distressed said there was nothing wrong. A month later his parents asked if he had a problem with his appendix; they were told he had a virus. The next day a doctor sent him for an X-ray. Neither the GP nor hospital staff showed any concern. He died within two hours from peritonitis caused by a burst appendix and a blocked bowel on 25 September 2004.

EMMA, 26

She was diagnosed with lymphoma B1-type cancer in 2004. She sometimes exhibited challenging behaviour. Doctors told her mother that with treatment she had a 50-50 chance of survival, but they decided not to treat her saying she would not co-operate. Her mother took legal action to force treatment. A second medical opinion concluded the cancer had advanced and she had a 10 per cent chance of survival. She was moved to a hospice where she received palliative care for a month until she died on 25 July 2004.