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Resettlement
Jun 1, 2024
Learn more about resettlement and long-stay hospitals
What is Resettlement?
Resettlement means supporting people with a learning disability to move out of long-stay hospitals and into homes in the community, where they can live more independently.
Instead of living in a hospital for many years, people are given the chance to live in a house or supported living setting, with the right support to help them with everyday life. This might include help from carers, access to healthcare, and support to make their own choices.
Resettlement aims to give people more freedom, dignity, and control over their lives, and to make sure they are included in the community, not kept apart from it.
Long-Stay Hospitals and Resettlement in Northern Ireland
When someone with a learning disability and mental health needs requires specialist assessment or treatment, they may be admitted to a hospital designed specifically for this purpose. In Northern Ireland, these are known as Learning Disability and Mental Health hospitals.
Back in 2005, the Equal Lives report highlighted a major concern: around 450 people were living in long-stay specialist hospitals, with an average stay of 20 years. This raised serious questions about quality of life, rights, and inclusion. The report made a clear recommendation: all long-stay patients should be resettled into supported community living as quickly as possible, with a goal to complete this by June 2011.
However, by 2022, this goal had not been fully achieved. An Independent Review, commissioned by the Department of Health, recognised that significant progress had been made between 2007 and 2020, but it also confirmed that resettlement was incomplete. For example, 46 people were still in-patients at Muckamore Abbey Hospital in June 2021, and 36 remained in July 2022.
In response, the Minister for Health announced the closure of Muckamore Abbey Hospital in July 2022, with a new target set to resettle all remaining in-patients by June 2024. Today, there all still in-patients waiting to be resettled.
ARC NI advocates for and will continue to support the wider goal of resettlement – to ensure people with a learning disability can live full, independent lives in the community—with dignity, choice, and the right support.
Watch our TILII member, Bethany, tell you about her resettlement journey.
- Resettlement
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- The Hospital Resettlement Programme in Northern Ireland after the Bamford Review: Part 1: Statistics, Perceptions And The Role Of The Supporting People Programme – NI Housing Executive, 2014
- The Hospital Resettlement Programme In Northern Ireland After The Bamford Review: Part 2: The Experience Of Learning Disabled People Resettled From Long Stay Hospitals – NI Housing Executive, 2017
- A Reveiw of Leadership and Governance at Muckamore Abbey Hospital – HSCB, July 2020
- From institution to community living: Collection of Models of Good Practice in deinstitutionalisation for people with high support needs/multiple disabilities – European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities, 2020
- Independent Review of Resettlement – DoH, July 2022
- Resettlement Summit Report – DoH, July 2023