Population 26,125 (2010) 194 identified clients with LD on the Primary Care register. Distance covered 150 miles. Learning Disabilities Collaborative Project Funded through Equally Well Focusing on health Inequalities

Current Service Provision 2 Learning Disability Nurses Administrator Psychiatrist with LD interest MH and LD lead Role. Local LES

Potential Outcomes of the Role Key Staff Primary/Secondary care Training Regular Health Screening LD/Autism Register Health Promotion/Health Information Health Improvement Policy Planned Dental Care Implementing best Practice – working with other Health Board Explore possible models for informed choices –eg Life Books, Person-centered planning

Patient Focused Input Linking with local Advocacy Group Initial Return Secondary Stage of Health Interviews Severe/Profound need and carers

COMMUNICATION We like getting letters sent to us that we can make sense of them ourselves. Letters are difficult to understand if you cant read and even sometimes they are still hard to understand when you can read.

COMMUNICATION Use big print and pictures and diagrams that help us to understand what you are trying to tell us. Make sure you talk to us as well as our parent/carer, its good when we can go away and talk about it afterwards.

VISITING THE HOSPITAL We think it might help us to get around if you used colours or numbers on your directions – have a colour code or a number code. The hospital is very clean and that is important to us.

DOCTORS It helps if you see the same Doctor or a Doctor that you know because they know your needs. Its difficult to talk to a Doctor you dont know especially telling them about our learning difficulty. When you keep seeing different Doctors, you have to keep repeating your needs over and over.

DOCTORS Dont talk too fast, remember to talk slowly and dont use big words. It would be helpful if Doctors used pictures and diagrams to help us to understand.

OPERATIONS Good to have someone you know (parent/carer) waiting just outside the theatre so that they we can see them quickly in case we panic when we come round. Ask us if we want you to explain every thing to us about what is going to happen. Some of us like to know and some of us dont – it can make us feel pretty scared.

OPERATIONS If we dont want to know, dont tell our Parent or Carer in front of us. We can feel quite anxious going to the theatre – it would be good to have some one we know going with us.

CONFIDENTIALITY It would be good to have a private place to talk with the Doctor because some times the hospital is so busy and noisy and sometimes people just think they have to talk loudly to us and then everybody knows everything. Sometimes it is difficult for us to talk quietly because there is a lot of noise around us and again everyone hears every thing. You have to talk quietly when you are having a conversation with friends and family on the ward, sometimes it is very difficult for some of us to talk quietly and concentrate especially when there is a lot going on around us.

ACCIDENT & EMERGENCY We wish it was quicker because when we have to wait a long time we start to panic. Would it help if we said we had a learning disability from the very beginning? Everyone is always really nice and talks to you all the time, this helps to stay calm.

MEDICINE INFORMATION Pictures and diagrams can help us to remember information. It is important to tell us how important our medicine is to us – we are good at remembering stuff like that.