Health Needs Annual Evidence Update 2009: Contents

 

The 2009 Annual Evidence Update has focused on five key themes relating to the health needs of people with learning disabilities:

  1. Cancer
  2. Coronary Heart Disease
  3. Challenging Behaviour
  4. Epilepsy
  5. Respiratory Illness

The healthcare needs of people with learning disabilities are well documented in the literature (van Schrojenstein Lantman-de Valk & Noonan Walsh 2008).


Health needs might be related to disabilities e.g. epilepsy, sensory deficits; syndrome related e.g. hypothyroidism in people with Down syndrome or secondary e.g. obesity and reflux disease. People with learning disabilities also visit primary care professionals less often than would be expected, they receive fewer screening tests and fewer health investigations despite evidence that regular and repeated health checking in primary care can identify previously unrecognised health care needs. (Felce et al 2008)

 

More recently, major concerns have been expressed about the response of NHS mainstream healthcare services to people with learning disabilities (Mencap 2007) suggesting “widespread ignorance and indifference throughout our healthcare services towards people with a learning disability, and their families and carers” which led to the setting up of an independent inquiry, under the chairmanship of Sir Jonathan Michael, which reported in July 2008 (Michael 2008).

 

Valuing People Now (Department of Health 2009) sets out the key issues for the NHS as “achieving full inclusion of people with learning disabilities in its mainstream work on reducing health inequalities; and ensuring high-quality evidence based specialist health services” 

 

The work of the NHS Evidence Learning Disabilities Specialist Collection is to provide access to the best evidence available to enable the development of high quality healthcare services.

 

References:

  1. Department of Health. Valuing people now: a new three-year strategy for people with learning disabilities. HMSO; 2009.
    [LDSC Abstract] [Full Text PDF]
  2. Felce D, et al. The Impact of Repeated Health Checks for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities. Journal of Applied Research in intellectual Disabilities 2008; 21: 85-596.
    [LSDC Abstract] [Full Text Payment Required]
  3. Michael J. Healthcare for all: the independent inquiry into access to healthcare for people with learning disabilities. 2008.
    [LDSC Abstract] [Full text PDF]
  4. Mencap. Death by Indifference, following up the Treat me Right Report. 2007.
    [LDSC Abstract] [SCIE Abstract]
  5. Van Schrojenstein Lantman-de Valk H, Noonan Walsh P. Managing health problems in people with intellectual disabilities. British Medical Journal 2008; 1408-1412.
    [LDSC Abstract] [Pubmed Abstract]