"Treatment of adults with a learning disability and their carers"

I am writing to share my story about a young woman i used to care for. This young woman had a specific learning disability, she was unable to communicate verbally but did make noises and tended to self harm by biting her hands when she was agitated or in pain. One night after the young woman had gone to bed there was alot of noise coming from her bedroom a member of staff went in to check on her and found that she had bitten her hands so severley that she had dislodged teeth from her mouth and there was alot of blood. Staff immediately called for an ambulance and bandaged her hands to cover the wounds and prevent her from doing any more damage. The young woman was taken to hospital and a member of staff accompanied her. While at the hospital the carer told the hospital staff that she tended to self harm when in pain but it had never been as bad as this so she was obviously in serious pain. The member of staff also told the hospital staff that the young woman had been to the gp for blood tests. The hospital staff seemed to disregard the young woman's cry for help and the carers concern and just bandaged her hand up and sent her home. When she arrived home the young woman was assisted with a shower and a into her pj's. While getting her changed staff noticed that her stomach was noticably distended so staff rang for an ambulance when the ambulance came the paramedics said there was nothing they could do but took her to hospital where she passed away of a tumour in her stomach.

I believe from my experiene with the service users i care for and the hospital, that hospitals often don't listen to the adults with a learning disability or the carer they are with and thus these adults don't recieve the best care they are entitled to.