ABSTRACT
There are strategic and clinical plans currently being rushed through in ‘fast-track’ areas in England to ‘transform’ institutional care for people with learning disabilities. This is in response to the abuse and neglect at Winterbourne View. As a socially responsible and ‘inclusive’ paradigm, ‘Transforming Care’ is aimed at non-offenders. The policy is to transfer people out of special hospitals while at the same time there is considerable doubt as to how and whether services in the community would be able to manage the risk presented by the complex needs of these individuals within a serviceable infrastructure. The future of those people currently cared for in non-prison institutional settings who are ‘offenders’ in the criminal justice system (CJS) has not even been considered.
This chapter asks if there can there be a non-dogmatic political approach that views NHS mental health/intellectual disability care systems as a service, not as business opportunities, that is fit for purpose?
