In Dorset, there are 4773 people registered with a learning disability at GP Practices, for whom having a health check or routine appointment can be challenging. Shore Medical GP practice in Poole is taking some important steps to improve the health checks and wellbeing of their patients registered with a learning disability.
The Learning from Lives and Death programme states that 6 in 10 people with a learning disability die before they are 65, compared to around 1 in 10 of the general population and 49% of deaths were classified as avoidable.
Yearly health checks are offered to anyone over the age of 14 who is registered as having a learning disability and for people with autism, however there are often barriers to people having these checks.
Local data shows that there are 1102 young people aged 14-25 on the GP Learning Disability Register and only 650 young people received a check in 22/23.
One change the GP practice in Poole has made is to set up a new calm space, away from the main waiting room. “When seeing patients with learning disabilities we realise that quite often the waiting rooms were noisy places, and this can be overwhelming,” said Sue Wilkins, Care Delivery Director at Shore Medical.
“Having a quiet place to wait can prevent people getting anxious. Many people also find waiting a long time very difficult. We created a quiet waiting room and purchased some sensory tools to make the experience much nicer for the patient.
“We also use this space to offer some educational support to the carers. It’s early days, but we hope that by doing this the uptake of checks will be higher. We now have a dedicated nurse that the patient and carers can get to know. By reducing the number of health checks needing to be done at home, it means the nurse has time to see more patients, and has the support at the practice of the wider team.
“So far, we have had 8 clinics which means we have seen 34 patients for learning disability checks. The plan is to run clinics for all the checks this year and for the vaccination clinics. Some of the sensory equipment has been used for visits for housebound patients to calm them before the check is completed.”
The additional health checks that they hope to offer include blood pressure, blood tests, cervical screening and social prescribing services for wellbeing. They also will be providing extra training for the nurses.
With Shore Medical making these adjustments, the intention is for learning to be shared across Dorset general practice, so the benefits can reach those people who are registered with a learning disability, helping to reduce the existing health inequalities.
For more information or to contact the practice, visit the Shore Medical webpage: Contact Us – Shore Medical
To learn more about health checks and the NHS Long Term Plan Programme for people with a learning disability and/or autism in Dorset, visit: Learning Disability and Autism – NHS Dorset
