Studies have shown that women with learning disabilities are less likely than those without disabilities to have access to cervical and breast cancer screening services as set out in the relevant clinical guidelines. The team at Improving Health and Lives, the learning disabilities public health observatory (LDPHO) reported that reasonable adjustments were not being made [read the full story…]
Whilst there has been significant progress in recent years in acknowledging the rights of people with learning disabilities to live their lives in the way they choose, responding to the right to be sexually active continues to throw up challenges for services and families. Part of the difficulty is that people with learning disabilities may [read the full story…]
Here at Elf Towers, we strive to bring you the best evidence from published studies, but from time to time, we have the opportunity to talk to you about research that is just getting underway. One such research project is being run by our friends at the Norah Fry Research Centre who are about to [read the full story…]
People with learning disabilities are living longer. The Royal College of Nursing website suggests that over the course of the last century, life expectancy for this group has increased significantly, with mean life expectancy estimated to be 74, 67 and 58 for those with mild, moderate and severe learning disabilities respectively. The researchers in this [read the full story…]
In the late 1990s, a group of people concerned about the quality of palliative care being offered to people with learning disabilities started a voluntary organiation now known as the PCPLD Network. The work of the network has raised awareness of the issue and also supported the research agenda into this topic. This current qualitative [read the full story…]
There is an increasing focus on how organisations that support people with learning disabilities can move to a position where they can deliver personalised services. In Control has provided a range of reports on the evaluation of the use of personal budgets and a recent publication by Helen Sanderson Associates, Creating Person Centred Organisations has [read the full story…]
The Mencap Getting it Right campaign was launched some time ago in recognition that people with a learning disability were getting a raw deal from the NHS, with unequal access to treatments and reports of poor care. A range of reasons may lie behind this poor response, including inadequate training, lack of support, lack of knowledge [read the full story…]
Staff working with people with complex needs relating to challenging behaviours or mental health needs will be dealing with a range of emotions on a daily basis. The authors of this qualitative study were interested to explore how staff dealt with these and what implications this might have for the organisation employing them. They worked [read the full story…]
Foetal alcohol syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by the use of alcohol during pregnancy. FAS Aware UK� points out that there is are varying estimates of the prevalence of the disorder, but is thought to have a prevalence of around 1 in 1000. The researchers in this study were interested in finding out about the [read the full story…]
A few years ago, the older family carers initiative, run by the Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities published a series of reports and some excellent guidelines on providing support to help inform not only practitioners, but commissioners and of course older family carers themselves of their rights and the kind of support they could might [read the full story…]
