What is “Special” about National Health Service Residences for People with Learning Disabilities? An Audit of Residential Needs

For many years the National Health Service (NHS) was the main provider of residences for people with learning disabilities. In recent years there has been a tremendous growth in the provision of residences by other organisations such as Social services, Housing Associations and voluntary bodies. In a number of papers in the last decade, the government has set out the developing roles for both the NHS and Social Services Departments (e.g. Caring for People, 1989; The NHS and Community Care Act, 1990). These describe a major role for Social Services departments as lead agencies in the field. The NHS is to be the provider of more specialist services. As other agencies develop expertise and the proportion of residential care provided by the NHS shrinks, it is questionable just what is its “specialist” role in provision of residential care. Health Authorities have produced eligibility criteria, which attempt to define who should have continuing care in the NHS. The eligibility criteria used in this study were taken from North Nottingham Health and Social service; Joint Strategy for Adults with Learning Disabilities, and states:-