"Treatment of learning disabled patient"

My learning disabled son attended to have an abcess lanced. A general anaesthetic was considered most appropriate to avoid unnecessary stress. Because of pressure on the system he was given the choice, after a 5 hour wait, of continuing to wait, with no guarantee the operation would be carried out that day and possibly having to spend the night in hospital, and returning the next day. Unsurprisingly he preferred the latter, even though there was no guarantee it would be done the next day either.

After another 4 hour wait (which was really 5 as we arrived early) I asked the staff if they could speed things up as he was getting very stressed and my efforts to keep him calm less successful. He was told he could either wait- again with no guarantee of an operation and a possible overnight stay which frightened him - or have it done under a local anaesthetic. He chose the latter, which was carried out caringly and competently. His views were ascertained and respected, he could understand the language used, ie it avoided jargon and long words and he was encouraged throughout: I was impressed by the way all staff treated him. However I think there should be a system for speeding up the treatment of learning disabled people. I managed to keep my son calm: on other occasions he would have broken down. And I know other learning disabled people who would have left the hospital or been asked to leave as they were upsetting people and disrupting your work. May I suggest you ask someone to contact the Mencap “Treat me well” scheme and collaborate in drawing up guidelines for the treatment of learning disabled people?