NHS health plans slammed after hidden detail shows key group not prioritised

EXCLUSIVE: NHS health plans slammed after hidden detail shows key group not prioritisedPlans to ramp up NHS care in neighbourhood health centres have come under fire for 'barely mentioning' people with learning disabilitiesCommentsNewsSophie Huskisson Political Correspondent17:11, 12 Apr 2026View 2 ImagesThe plans were criticised for “barely mentioning” people with learning disabilities(Image: In Pictures via Getty Images)Plans to ramp up NHS care in neighbourhood health centres have come under fire for “barely mentioning” people with learning disabilities.‌Leading charity Mencap, which represents those with a learning disability, branded it a “national scandal” that people in this group die on average 20 years earlier than the general population.‌Chief executive of the charity Jon Sparkes said the Government’s new Neighbourhood Health Framework - which offers more joined-up services closer to home - is “on paper” everything people with learning disabilities have been asking for.‌But he continued: “Yet these people, who stand to benefit most from this new approach, are missing from the list of priority groups. The very people who face some of the starkest health inequalities in the country are barely mentioned in the framework that’s supposed to tackle the huge health inequalities they face.”READ MORE: Dozens of new neighbourhood health centres unveiled - see full list of areasView 2 ImagesChief executive of the charity Jon Sparkes criticised the Government’s new neighbourhood health plansMr Sparkes said he feared services would not be designed with the group in mind amid government assurances they will be included years down the line. “The risk now is that support for people with a learning disability is quietly kicked into the long grass,” he added.‌The Government's neighbourhood health framework, published in March, references people with learning disabilities once, where it says it hopes to support them with services "over the next few years&...