SHOCKING research has revealed that 1,200 people with learning disabilities die unnecessarily every year because of a lack of awareness and training.

In a bid to tackle this, a Cumbrian charity is pushing ahead with a campaign to help improve the treatment of hospital patients with learning disabilities, and prevent avoidable deaths.

Carlisle Mencap is backing a national Treat Me Well campaign, calling on NHS staff to take 10 simple steps to change the way they care for those with learning disabilities.

The charity hand a stand in the atrium at the city’s Cumberland Infirmary yesterday, where they were urging staff to sign up to the campaign pledges.

The stand will also be there tomorrow.

The Treat Me Well campaign was launched following YouGov research and Freedom of Information requests to NHS trusts. It revealed that healthcare professionals and hospital trusts have been failing to make simple, reasonable adjustments to the care of someone with a learning disability.

Carlisle Mencap says these are not only legal duties, but can actually save lives.

Sheila Gregory, chief executive, said: “People with a learning disability face sharp healthcare inequalities, and more than 1,000 people with a learning disability die every year – when good healthcare could have saved their lives. This is why we are trying to get as many healthcare staff as possible to sign up to the Treat Me Well campaign.”

The charity is also urging senior NHS figures, like clinical leads, to sign up.

Mrs Gregory stressed that if staff are more aware, reasonable adjustments can be made to remove barriers that people learning disabilities face when they go into hospital.

A national survey of healthcare professionals recently revealed that 45 per cent believed a lack of proper learning disability training is contributing to the high number of avoidable deaths.

Mrs Gregory added that to date, the Carlisle Mencap campaign has been well-supported by local health staff - more so than in other parts of the UK.