The keys to life - Improving Quality of Life for People with Learning Disabilities EASY READ version

Health

Research tells us that people with learning disabilities have some of the poorest health of any group in Scotland.

We want people with learning disabilities to be healthier.

What are our recommendations for health?

We will work with other organisations to find out the number of adults with learning disabilities who use health services.

We will work with other organisations to find out the number of adults with learning disabilities who use social work services.

We will work with other organisations to look at patterns of long term medical conditions in people with learning disabilities. This will help improve health and avoid unnecessary deaths.

The Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory will support better health for people with learning disabilities. They will work on understanding the causes of poor health and unnecessary death in people with learning disabilities.

We will look at best practice guidelines for treating people with learning disabilities in healthcare settings. We will make sure they meet the changing needs of people with learning disabilities.

The Easy Info Zone on the NHS Inform website has easy read health information on it. People with learning disabilities, their families and carers should be told about this website. This should be done by 2014.

A targeted health screening programme for people with learning disabilities should be put in place across Scotland.

All professionals working with people with learning disabilities should promote the National Oral Health Improvement Strategy. This is a plan for keeping people's teeth and gums healthy. This should be done by June 2014.

All NHS Boards should make sure that people with learning disabilities have access to the right medical services. This includes access to learning disability nurses who have extra training in epilepsy. This should be done by June 2015.

Health and social care staff should use the local 'See Hear' policy when working with people with learning disabilities. 'See Hear' is a plan to meet the needs of people with sight or hearing loss.

We will carry out research to make sure that people with learning disabilities get the same treatment as people without learning disabilities.

Organisations will work together to find out how GPs (local doctor) can best meet the needs of people with learning disabilities.

Services should work together to make sure people with learning disabilities get the right level of support when they are in hospital.

Hospital departments such as Accident and Emergency are very busy. It is important to know how many people with learning disabilities visit these departments.