Over 2,000 people with a learning disability and autistic people (of which around 200 are children) are detained, often for many years, in mental health hospitals in England. This is leading to lifelong trauma and loss of life. 

“It was brutal,” says Jeremy, describing the three years his autistic daughter, Bethany, was confined to “a room 12ft by 18ft — nothing but a mattress on the floor”. He describes how Bethany struggled to cope in a mental health hospital not suited to meet her needs, and “eventually they stopped opening the door”. 

Bethany is now living happily back in the community. However, it took a tremendous fight by her family over many years to get her discharged from hospital.

The government and NHS England are failing to meet their target to halve the number of people with a learning disability and autistic people in mental health hospitals.

There’s widespread consensus that better community support is the key to people with a learning disability and autistic people not being admitted to mental health hospitals and to discharging those currently ‘stuck’ in hospital.  

We’re calling on all UK political parties to commit to using the government’s new powers to direct NHS England (in the Health and Care Act 2022) to urgently improve support for people with a learning disability and autistic people to live in the community and reduce their detention in mental health hospitals.