Local Social Care Provider responds to Winterbourne View sentences!

Oct. 31, 2012 - PRLog -- Robin Bush, Managing Director of local social care provider, Living Ambitions, has described the scandal of the 11 carers who admitted abuse of patients with learning difficulties at Winterbourne View Hospital, Bristol, as “An horrific an shocking incident, that raises the importance of public and government understanding about the vulnerability of people with learning and physical disabilities”

The 11 defendants – nine support workers and two nurses – admitted 38 charges of either neglect or ill-treatment of five people with severe learning difficulties after being secretly recorded by a reporter for the BBC's Panorama programme.

Living Ambitions, working in partnership with Lancashire Constabulary, Lancashire County Council, Preston City Council, Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Tust, Mencap, Disability Equality NW, True Vision and Caritas Care, launched a Community Campaign this summer  2012 to raise the profile of ‘Disability Hate Crime in Lancashire’ The event at the Preston Guild Hall in June was a great success and was supported and addressed by local MP Mark Hendrick and Lancashire County Council’s Champion for the Disabled, Carolyn Evans

“Our aim is to make the general public aware of exactly what Disability Hate Crime is” says Robin Bush, MD of Living Ambitions “We support many people who have learning and physical disabilities and it is clear from the feedback we get, that public and organisations understanding of disability and hate crime in general is poor”. PC Stuart Rutledge, from Lancashire Constabulary’s Diversity Unit added “We also want people to know that these crimes can be reported and where they can be reported as Hate Crime in general is on the increase”

As the 2nd phase of the ‘No Place for Hate-Stop Disability Hate Crime in Lancashire’ campaign begins with a series of promotions before Christmas and running into the New Year, “The hope..” comments Robin Bush, “Is that our local campaign can also add a voice to the changes and the enforcement of the laws demanded by the Families of the victims of Winterbourne View and the call for more local services provided by companies such as ourselves”

For further information on the Living Ambitions Community Campaign please contact:

Robin Bush
Living Ambitions
38 Brownedge Road,
Lostock Hall, Preston, Lancashire
PR5 5AD
Tel: 01772 310 280   Fax: 01772 378 796  
E-Mail: admin@livingambitions.co.uk
Web: www.livingambitions.co.uk

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Notes for the Editor:

*Registered as an excellent 3* provider with the Care Quality Commission, Ofsted and the Social Care Inspectorate the organisation is also a preferred social care provider of Lancashire County Council, Wigan and Salford. With demand for ‘Supported Living’, ‘Outreach’ and a variety of innovative services from support providers increasing, Living Ambitions work to provide community support to individuals with Long term and enduring mental health concerns, dual diagnosis and Learning Disabilities.

*Based on Brownedge Road, Lostock Hall, in Preston, Lancashire, the organisation has been an innovative provider of social care services for over 20 years. Originally part of the Watson Healthcare Group operating in Salford & Greater Manchester, it now focuses on developing small bespoke services for individuals of all ages in their local communities throughout the North West