Basildon Hospital chiefs say they are taking steps to improve the way they treat patients with learning disabilities after being criticised by a mental health charity.

A survey by Mencap revealed 50 per cent of doctors and nurses in the east of England say people with a learning disability receive a poorer standard of healthcare than the rest of the population.

Mencap also highlighted six cases of patients with learning disabilities who died unnecessarily in NHS hospitals, including Tina Papalabropoulos, from Basildon.

Tina, 23, died at Basildon Hospital in 2009. She had profound, multiple learning disabilities, epilepsy and complex health needs. She could not communicate verbally, but could make herself understood to her family.

Tina was admitted to hospital after developing a cough which led to pneumonia. She had to wait four days to see a consultant.

As her health deteriorated her family were told she would not be resuscitated and a “DNR notice” was put above her bed.

Her family say there was no proper discussion with them about this.

Tina’s mum, Christine, 53, of Harris Close, Wickford, said: “You hope medical staff will show some care, compassion and respect, but they failed my daughter from her GP assessment to her treatment in hospital.

“She wasn’t even treated with dignity and at one point the doctor said quite bluntly, ‘well, she would die’.”

Christine went to Basildon Hospital in November last year to call on bosses to resign over the care her daughter received.

But the hospital has signed up to a new charter launched by the charity to coincide with Learning Disability Week.

The Get it Right charter aims to stop indifference towards patients with special needs and improve overall care.

Maggie Rogers, director of nursing at Basildon Hospital, said lessons had been learned from Tina’s case and signing the charter was a step forward.

She said: “The chief executive and I have met the family to address the issues they raised.

“Mr and Mrs Papalabropoulos engaged Mencap to support them in working with the hospital.

“The trust wrote to Mencap in response to Mr and Mrs Papalabropoulos’ complaint, several months ago, and we await their reply.

“We strongly support and welcome Mencap’s Get it Right campaign, to promote the needs of patients with learning disabilities and we have already signed up to their charter.”

Earlier this month, the hospital was fined £90,000 over a separate incident involving a severely disabled patient.

Quadriplegic Kyle Flack, 20, of Corringham Road, Stanford-le-Hope, suffocated after his head became trapped in bed rails in October 2006. The hospital admitted a breach of safety rules.