Medway NHS Foundation Trust has launched a new campaign that aims to improve care for patients with learning disabilities or autism.

The ‘Different Not Less’ campaign was created by Ginny Bowbrick – a consultant vascular surgeon and mother of autistic twins with severe learning disabilities – after she watched the horrific scenes from Whorlton Hall in the Panorama programme broadcast last year.

The programme showed vulnerable adults being verbally and physically abused by those who were meant to be caring for them, and was sadly not an isolated case, with similar reports coming from Winterbourne View and Muckamore Abbey Hospital.

Dr Bowbrick said: “It is a disturbing fact that women with a learning disability die 20 years sooner than the general population, and men 13 years sooner.

“Common themes from reviews into these higher death rates are lack of involvement of families, poor decision making and inequality of care.

“The campaign aims to promote equality in care and encourages staff to avoid making assumptions about our patients with autism or learning disabilities and to listen to them and their families”.

The campaign has also received high-profile backing from Professor Sheila the Baroness Hollins, the founder of Beyond Words, a charity that provides books and training to support people who find pictures easier to understand than words.

Chief executive of the Medway Trust James Devine said: “We are incredibly proud to launch the ‘Different Not Less’ campaign and would like to thank Professor Sheila the Baroness Hollins for her support.

“Our staff have considerable skill and expertise in caring for patients with learning disabilities, but we also understand that we must continue to strive to provide even better care, and that there are some areas of communication and understanding that can be improved.

“We are asking our staff to wear our campaign badge to show patients and their families that they want to care, to listen and to understand."

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