High Level Summary of Statistics Trend Last update: Thursday, May 14, 2009
People with Learning Disabilities
'The Same as You' review of services for people with learning disabilities was published in May 2000 and made 29 recommendations for developing learning disability services setting out a programme for change over 10 years. Since 2000, the number of adults with learning disabilities resident in long-stay hospitals has decreased substantially from over 1,800 in 2000 to around 350 people in 2007 (a drop of over 80%). Over the same period the number of adults with learning disabilities in care homes has fallen by over a quarter from around 3,300 in 2000 to around 2,400 in 2007.
At the same time the number of adults with learning disabilities receiving home care services has increased from 1,500 in 2000 to 3,600 in 2007. Around 7,500 adults with learning disabilities now live in their own tenancies, an increase of over 3,200 since this data was first collected in 2003. Although numbers are still small (604 people in 2007) an increasing number of adults with learning disabilities are using direct payments to directly purchase the services they require.
The Same as You? said that the role of day centres should change. Nobody should go to a day centre full-time but should instead get alternative day opportunities for at least part of the week. Between 2003 and 2005 there was a gradual decline in the number of people attending day centres coupled with an increase in the number of adults with learning disabilities getting alternative day opportunities. In 2006 and 2007, however, the numbers attending day centres rose slightly again. Those receiving alternative opportunities in 2006 and 2007 appear to have remained more or less the same as 2005 levels.
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Source: Scottish Government and ISD Scotland
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