Institutional abuse is rife

New publication - Returning Home

Release | 03.09.13

NHS leaders in Devon are leading the way in challenging abuse and bringing people back home from institutional placements that are often hundreds of miles from home.

Returning Home - piloting personalised support - is a research report from Dr Simon Duffy, Director of The Centre for Welfare Reform. The report describes how nationally the NHS and local government is spending about £3.5 billion on institutional services for 21,000 people. This problem has grown as local services have not been developed to provide support to families early enough and flexibly enough.

The situation is critical. When people are sent away from home the data suggests that people often become victims of abuse. And while these services often promise to make things better the reality is that mostly people are just moved from place to place, with no realistic prospect of coming home.

In Devon, today, there is some hope. The Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group for the NHS is now setting up a new organisation with the skills to bring people home safely and to help people reconnect to family, friends and the local community. This new organisation is called Beyond Limits and early progress seems promising. Further research is underway and this new model could be taken up by commissioners elsewhere.

Read the full report here: http://bit.ly/returnhome

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