Publication date
June 2023
Key findings
Many adults with learning disabilities (LD) rely heavily on family members or carers to manage their health appointments and medication. This support is crucial for monitoring, making, and attending appointments, which places significant pressure on carers to remember and explain health checks and processes. GP surgeries can be noisy and overwhelming, creating barriers for adults with LD to attend annual health checks. The process of phoning GP surgeries at 8am for appointments is also stressful and causes anxiety, often leading to delays in securing appointments.
Effective communication during face-to-face appointments is vital to avoid making the person with LD feel excluded. Routine dental and optician appointments are sometimes missed due to poor communication. Some adults with LD can manage their own medical appointments with minimal support, but those with additional health conditions like ASD or speech and language issues struggle to access appropriate services. This lack of holistic care puts immense pressure on families, often leaving them to navigate the system with limited support.
Mental health services are inadequate for people with LD, making it difficult to access necessary support. Many are discharged without treatment, leaving carers feeling helpless in securing the needed help.
Additional information
Survey by Healthwatch Essex.
Healthwatch Hertfordshire and Healthwatch Essex have been commissioned by the Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB) Primary Care Workstream to undertake a series of engagement projects.
The aims of the engagement projects include:
- Gathering lived experiences to feed directly into the Hertfordshire and West Essex ICS Primary Care Workstream.
- Supporting and enabling the Hertfordshire and West Essex ICS to achieve wider participant engagement.
- Engaging patients and the public on programmes covering key priorities and areas of importance at a regional and local level.
- Making recommendations to the Hertfordshire and West Essex ICS Primary Care Workstream so improvements can be implemented.