Meeting the health needs of People with Learning Disabilities

This one-day inter professional course is suitable for a range of professionals in health and social care with regular patient contact who want to explore how to improve healthcare provision to people with learning disabilities.

The course will set out what learning disabilities are and how they can affect individuals. It will explore the health inequalities faced by people with learning disabilities, barriers to accessing effective healthcare and ways that health staff can help overcome these with the application of reasonable adjustments.

Participants will be involved in a series of scenarios using actors with learning disabilities as simulated patients. A structured debrief model is employed to give feedback to participants on their contribution and assist them to learn positively and constructively from their experience.

The course addresses the challenges faced in different clinical contexts and aims to get different professionals working together to further their understanding and build confidence.

Learning outcomes:

• To develop /build on knowledge, confidence and clinical skills to work with people with learning disabilities.
• To enhance the identification of the difficulties experienced by people with learning disabilities accessing healthcare services.
• To gain a better understanding of the importance of applying reasonable adjustments in the clinical setting to reduce health inequalities and improve health outcomes for people with learning disabilities.