HC Deb 05 June 1998 vol 313 c408W
Mr. Hurst

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of adults with severe learning disabilities residing in(a) long-stay hospitals and (b) the community. [44077]

Mr. Boateng

It is estimated that there are about 160,000 adults with severe learning disabilities in England. We estimate that approximately 5,000 of these are placed in continuing National Health Service care. There are also about 3,000 other people in old long-stay learning disability hospitals. This means that there are approximately 152,000 people with severe learning disabilities living in the community outside long-stay NHS care. A significant number of the approximately 3,000 people currently in old long-stay learning disability hospitals are also likely to move into the community over the next few years.

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