VULNERABLE people with learning disabilities in Worcestershire need more help to stop them suffering ill-health or death, say health bosses.

Local health leaders from Worcestershire Primary Care Trust have responded to an independent inquiry into access to healthcare among people with learning disabilities.

The inquiry, published in July by the then Secretary of State Patricia Hewitt, was a response to the Mencap publication Death by Indifference which reported that several people with learning disabilities had died because of inadequate NHS care.

Of the 35 criteria used by the Strategic Health Authority to assess the standard of care for people with learning disabilities, in Worcestershire 10 were in the red, 10 were amber and 15 were green. Red indicates the trust is underperforming, amber shows a need to improve, and green indicates targets are being met.

Worcestershire Primary Care Trust has no system in place to monitor invitations for women with learning disabilities to attend cervical screening and no agreed protocols in relation to treating older people with learning disabilities who may have dementia or depression.

Not all patients with learning disabilities had access to mental health outreach teams or were offered diabetic retinal screening or had appropriate assessment at acute hospitals. Concerns were raised about the future of these vulnerable people at a meeting of Worcestershire Primary Care Trust in Redditch Town Hall on Wednesday.

Peter Pinfield, a non-executive director of the board, said: “For this group of people – not just in Worcestershire – they have been a hidden minority.

“Some of these people have not had a health check and it just can’t go on.”

Rob Parker, also a non-executive director, said Worcestershire PCT should look at examples of best practice and centres of excellence from across the country to improve the service.

Lola Abudu, director of planning and partnership, said a workshop next month for primary care trusts across the country would share examples of best practice but information was still being gathered to improve standards of care.

In the meantime the PCT has introduced an action plan to encourage GPs to enhance the service to provide annual health checks for people with learning disabilities.