Working together to improve the lives of people with learning disabilities - our Learning Disabilities Challenge
Our Partnership has 10 Big Ambitions and one of those is to reduce the gap in life expectancy for autistic and other neurodiverse people, people with learning disabilities and people with mental health conditions. 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 will drive this aim. You can read a news release about our aims here.
We want everyone with a learning disability who lives in West Yorkshire to have the same opportunities as everyone else.
We want people to live long and healthy lives and be treated with dignity and respect.
We think it is important for people to have good relationships with others.
We want everyone to have a place they call home in their community.
Our objectives – how we will know that we have improved health and wellbeing for people with learning disabilities:
- People with learning disabilities who live in West Yorkshire will live longer, healthier lives.
- People with learning disabilities will have better patient experiences and better outcomes.
- Our health and care services will be regarded as an example of best practice in how it promotes the health needs of people with learning disabilities.
Our mandate – what we will do
Voluntary and Community Social Enterprises (VCSE), social care, Primary Care Networks (PCNs) and Acute Trusts will take a lead role in ensuring people with learning disabilities are reached out to and supported to take up their annual health checks and screening checks.
We will involve families in developing, sourcing and delivering training and awareness-raising, to ensure all services can support people with learning disabilities well.
We will involve our active VCSE sector and people with lived experience to shape and support our delivery plan.
Our health system is responsive to improving the health inequalities faced by people with learning disabilities. We believe that it is everyone’s responsibility to ensure people with learning disabilities will be as healthy as they can be. We intend that people with learning disabilities will experience the best possible health care and have improved outcomes from their health services.
These easy read documents are a way of helping people with an learning disability, or their carers, to be more proactive in their care and to better understand their early warning signs of deterioration and know when to escalate / seek further advice, care and treatment.
Ask, Listen, Do - feedback, concerns and complaints
Ask, Listen, Do is a national NHS initiative that aims to improve experiences and outcomes for children and adults who are autistic or have a learning disability, their families and carers. Ask Listen Do came from the poor experiences people reported when giving feedback, raising concerns and making complaints.
Ask Listen Do resources are designed to:
- support organisations to listen, learn from and improve the experiences of children and adults who are autistic or have a learning disability, their families and carers
- make it easier for people, families and paid carers to give feedback, raise concerns and complain.
You can read more about Ask, Listen, Do on the NHS website.
Ask Listen Do resources for people and families
- Resources for autistic people and people with a learning disability
- Top tips for family carers
- Resources for families to use with schools
- Ask Listen Do film for people and families
- Speak Up - independently produced self-advocacy resources
Ask Listen Do resources for organisations
- Information booklet and checklist for organisations
- Co-production guide using an Ask Listen Do approach
- A training film for organisations
- Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training refers to Ask Listen Do. It is for all registered service providers and NHS healthcare staff can also access it through ESR (Electronic Staff Record).
How to raise a concern or make a complaint
You can contact us at NHS West Yorkshire ICB for concerns or complaints about primary care, secondary care, such as hospital care, mental health services, out-of-hours services, NHS 111 and community services like district nursing.
Click here to find out more about how to raise concerns or complaints to us.
Start well - supporting Children and Young People with Learning disabilities and / or Autism
You can find resources for children, young people, their parents, carers and the professionals who look after them on our Start Well page.
Living well with Learning Disabilities
We have collected resources from across our West Yorkshire Partnership that are useful for people with Learning Disabilities on our Live Well page.
Ageing well with Learning Disabilities
Older people with Learning Disabilities have particular needs. We have some resources that reflect those needs on our Age Well page.
Working with people with Learning Disabilities
Working with people with Learning Disabilities is a rewarding and varied career. Amanda McKie, Consultant Nurse for Learning Disabilities at Calderdale and Huddersfield Foundation Trust has shared her years of experience of working with people who have learning disabilities and how it has changed her life. Read Amanda’s blog.
You can find out more about some of the roles here.
The development of the Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag on the NHS spine holds huge potential for improving health outcomes for people with learning disabilities and autism, and potentially saving lives. Following publication of an Information Standard Notice in 2023, organisations are preparing for implementation by 31 March 2024.
Click here to find out more about Reasonable Adjustments together with resources.
The Learning Disability Mortality Review (LeDeR) - Learning from Lives and Deaths
You can visit the Partnership's LeDeR webpage for more information.
