Meeting the Health Needs of People with Learning Disabilities

Course Outline

This one-day interprofessional 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 the experience. It aims to get different professionals working together to further their understanding of the challenges faced in these situations and build confidence in dealing with them.

Learning objectives

After completing this course those attending will be able to:

• Demonstrate enhanced knowledge, confidence and clinical skills to work with people with learning disabilities

• Identify the difficulties experienced by people with learning disabilities accessing healthcare services

• Understand the importance of applying reasonable adjustments in the clinical setting to reduce health inequalities and improve health outcomes for people with learning disabilities.