Pandora Summerfield: Care failings shamefully exposed

Fifty-nine isn't old for any one, including people with Down's syndrome, who due to better health care and support can now live into their 70s. Last month these systems failed 59-year-old Lynn Beveridge, a woman with Down's syndrome.

Ms Beveridge, a resident for five years of Elsie Inglis Nursing Home, died two days after being admitted to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary with an infection from an open pressure sore.

Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland monitors care homes. It awarded the Elsie Inglis a "good" grade in October 2010. It assessed only the quality of "care and support". The remaining themes, environment, staffing and management and leadership, were not assessed.

In April, a month before Ms Beveridge died, an unannounced inspection gave the home the lowest grade for all themes. This assessment is not uncommon. The Care Commission says one in ten homes is weak or unsatisfactory.

Isn't it unforgiveable that in an age when people are living longer, a person's life could be cut short due to poor quality of care?

It is not only the quality of care that is concerning about this case, but also the lack of specialist services for people with learning disabilities. According to the University of Bath, the average age of care home residents is 90, so why did the council consider it appropriate for a 54 year-old woman to be in a nursing home for older people in the first place?

Research by Learning Disability Alliance Scotland found that across Scotland nearly 800 people with learning disabilities (a third under 65), were placed in routine care homes instead of specialist services for people with learning disabilities. It found staff had little access to external training and many did not understand how to communicate with people with learning disabilities.

Are we a civilized society, if a person's life could be cut short due to poor quality of care, or that they should be cared for in services that are unable to meet their needs?

• Pandora Summerfield is chief executive of Down's Syndrome Scotland