The level of abuse uncovered at a trust in Cornwall has triggered a national audit and inspection of providers of services to people with learning disabilities. sadly, this could mean we’ll be reading about more scandals in future, says Daniel Allen

It would not be unreasonable to expect that such practices were confined to the history books. After all, in no other area of health care would these abuses be found. While other patients and clients are offered the best that the 21st century can offer, people with learning disabilities, in some places at least, continue to be subjected to the sorts of ill-treatment that would make a Victorian asylum-keeper blush with shame.