Government accused of breaching human rights of patients with learning disabilities and autism

Ministers and NHS England reportedly ‘systemically failing’ to provide better care to vulnerable patients

Matt Hancock has received legal action that the Department of Health and Social Care has breached the European Convention of Human Rights (Getty)

The UK government has been accused of breaching the human rights of more than 2,000 patients with learning disabilities and autism who remain detained in hospitals.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has launched a legal challenge against health secretary Matt Hancock over the government’s “repeated failure” to move hundreds of people out of institutional care.

The EHRC has said it was bringing a challenge because of “longstanding concerns” about the care of more than 2,200 patients, including children, who are detained in secure hospitals often far from home for many years.