Posted on: 29 November 2022
2023 will see an increased focus across the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership on improving the lives of people with learning disabilities.
One of our Partnership’s 10 Big Ambitions is to reduce the gap in life expectancy for autistic and other neurodiverse people, people with learning disabilities and people with mental health conditions by 10% by 2024. Achieving this ambition will make life better for more than 200 000 people living in West Yorkshire.
Our Learning Disabilities Challenge is the programme that is working on making sure that people with learning disabilities can start well, live well and age well. We also want to grow our workforce of people who support and care for people with learning disabilities. We work with people with lived experience, such as our Health and Care Champions, to make sure that we understand directly from them what they need.
Dr Sara Munro, CEO Lead for West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Autism; and CEO for Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust said:
“Colleagues across the Partnership are contributing their expertise, their resources and their energy to achieving our ambition and are already making progress. West Yorkshire primary care teams completed more than 30% of Annual Health Checks for people with learning disabilities in the period April to August 2022 - the highest percentage in the NHS North East and Yorkshire region.
Annual health checks are effective in identifying previously unrecognised health needs, including those associated with life-threatening illnesses, helping to reduce the gap in life expectancy between people with learning disabilities and the rest of the population.”
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