How Hospitals and GPs are treating people with learning disabilities

HOSPITAL INFORMATION Most hospitals told us they gave people information that was easy for the person to understand Only a small number of hospitals could show us that they used health passports

Training for hospital staff Most staff felt that they were too over – worked to spend extra time with people who had learning disabilities in their hospital Almost every staff member said they wanted more training in learning disabilities Over half of them had NEVER received training. No hospitals say their staff must have learning disabilities training

Doctors and annual health checks Doctor’s should offer people Health checks once a year to find out if people are healthy Half of the Doctors we spoke to offered people health checks A small number of these included a Health Action plan. A health action plan tells people what they can do to be healthy and who can help you to do this.

Tests that doctors should do to check if people are healthy Doctors should check that people, who take tablets for a mental health problem like feeling very sad or unhappy, are physically healthy We found that almost all the doctors we spoke to checked if people smoked. Very few people were given help to stop smoking. Very few people were given tests to check if they had diabetes.

What people with learning disabilities told us Most people said that doctors and nurses were friendly Over half said that doctors and nurses listened to them Over half said it was easy to ask questions “Training with learning disabilities and spending more time to understand me” “Doctors and nurses listened to me carefully and understood me everyone helped by following my instructions” “The doctor and nurses should speak directly at me. The doctor and nurses need to explain my treatment clearer so that I can understand. Look at my health passport”