Difficulties with swallowing can lead to significant risk, from aspiration, dehydration, recurrent chest infections and of course choking risk. Dysphagia, the difficulty in preparation of food in the mouth for swallowing, can have a number of causes, physiological, environmental and behavioural. The consequences of not identifying and then dealing with the issue can clearly have [read the full story…]
The health inequalities of people with learning disabilities are well documented in the literature, with increased risks for many physical and sensory health issues as well as mental health issues and responses from health services have often been poor, as documented in the Michael Report. In recent years, the healthcare pathways approach has been introduced [read the full story…]
Social inclusion is at the heart of UK policy for disabled and disadvantaged people. The right to inclusion is one of the underpinning rights set out in the 2001 White Paper ‘Valuing People’. As a concept in the research literature though, it suffers from a lack of clear definition. O’Brien identified community participation as one [read the full story…]
Sexuality is a core aspect of human experience, but for many people with learning disabilities, there continues to be considerable confusion about sexuality and significant gaps in their knowledge Opportunities for people to participate in relationships and education about sexuality can be affected by attitudes and perceptions of family carers, support workers and professional staff. [read the full story…]
Background The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DOLS) were introduced in 2009 following the Mental Capacity Act (2005). The safeguards were put in place to be used in situations where adults had been assessed as not having the mental capacity to make informed decisions about aspects of their care or treatment in care homes and hospitals. [read the full story…]
Background For some time now, UK policy has been to offer support to people with learning disabilities with additional mental health issues through mainstream mental health services. There has continued to be a debate about the effectiveness of this policy. The most recent guidance from the joint commissioning panel for mental health in fact stated [read the full story…]
Background The recent events at Winterbourne View refocused attention on abuse of people with learning disabilities, and there is an acceptance of the need for system wide change as a result of the enquiries that followed the uncovering of these events. That change has posited the need to close Winterbourne View type services and help [read the full story…]
Last July I wrote a blog (Helping patients and carers deal with a diagnosis of dementia: one size doesn’t fit all) about a systematic review of qualitative evidence (Bunn, 2012) relating to patients and carers experiences of reaching and adapting to a diagnosis of dementia. That blog was heavily influenced by personal experience of my [read the full story…]
Background The Care Programme Approach (CPA) was introduced in the early 1990s as a response to a number of high profile situations involving significant lack of coordination of care. The CPA meant that anyone with experiencing severe mental health problems and who meets one or more criteria, should have their care co-ordinated under the Care [read the full story…]
Background Personalised or individualised supports are those which respond to unique needs of an individual, which focus on their personal assets and abilities; accentuate choice and control and are delivered in the community alongside other citizens. In recent years in the Republic of Ireland, there has been an increasing focus in public policy on personalisation [read the full story…]
