News

The government is considering offering people with learning difficulties an annual health check, a new report reveals.

A government document, which sets out how NHS services will be made more responsive to patients through increased choice, states that the Department of Health will "bring forward proposals" later this year on providing the optional checks.

Research has shown that people with learning difficulties are less likely than the rest of the population to undergo regular health checks.


Rob Greig, national director of the Valuing People Support Team at the DoH, said the proposal could improve people's lives substantially as long as it was used to underpin health action planning and did not become simply a "pointless tick-box exercise".

He said such a move would also benefit social care providers as it could help them identify previously undiagnosed health problems in people with learning difficulties that could be causing challenging or aggressive behaviour.

David Congdon, head of external relations at learning difficulty charity Mencap, said his organisation supported the proposal in principle, but added that the government must support it with funding.

He said an annual health check was already a requirement for people with learning difficulties who lived in residential care homes but these did not always take place.


The government's learning difficulty white paper Valuing People, published in March 2001, stated that all people with a learning difficulty should have a health action plan by June 2005.

This should include details on vision, hearing, nutrition, emotional needs, medication taken and its side-effects, and records of any screening tests. The plan should also be reviewed at different stages of the person's life.

It also said that all people with a learning difficulty should be registered with a GP by June.

- Building on the Best: Choice, Responsiveness and Equity in the NHS from www.doh.gov.uk/choiceconsultation/buildingonthebest.pdf