GP Michael Fitzpatrick has argued that annual health check for people with learning disabilities are not needed because there is no widespread discrimination against them in the NHS and there's a danger it will just turn into a box ticking exercise. I wondered whether this was people's experience on the ground?
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This is yet another example of an ill informed GP talking poppycock. There is research going back many years which indicates that people with learning disabilities get a very raw deal when it comes to accessing good quality health care, and my own personal experience suggests that most medics lack understanding, empathy and patience when it come to working with people with learning disabilities. The following is from a recent all parert parliamentary meeting and can be found on the Mencap website:
The health inequalities experienced by people with a learning disability have been
known for some time:
learning disabilities fall short when compared with outcomes for the nondisabled
population’, and identified solutions – including the need for a confidential inquiry
into premature deaths, annual health checks and staff training.
training to help them treat people with a learning disability, and 90% felt that a
patient’s learning disability made it more difficult to make a diagnosis.
“people with learning disabilities die younger than other citizens. They also have
high rates of unmet health needs”.
times higher than in the general population.
people with a learning disability in NHS residential care showed institutional
abuse taking place for years unchecked.
learning disabilities face inequalities and that ‘the NHS has historically not served
such people well’.
Warren, Ted, Martin and Tom. Mencap believes that these loved and valued
individuals died because of institutional discrimination in the health service against
people with a learning disability.
The report makes three key demands:
to this demand as soon as the report was published.
2. A national confidential inquiry into the premature deaths of people with a learning
disability.
3. Major improvements to the investigation of complaints against the healthcare
system.
Government reaction
The Secretary of State for Health, Patricia Hewitt MP, said that she was “shocked” by
the report, and undertook to meet the families involved and to set up an independent
inquiry into the six deaths. The inquiry will examine the six cases alongside any
potential wider implications – but the terms of reference have not yet been published.
The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health, Ivan Lewis MP, told Channel
4 News that there appeared to be “systemic indifference” within the health service
towards people with a learning disability, and said that the report “must trigger real
action on the front line of the NHS to ensure that people with learning disabilities
have the same kind of quality health care as the rest of us take for granted”.
18month
formal investigation by the DRC into the health inequalities experienced by
people with mental health problems and/or learning disabilities in England and
Wales.
It found that people with learning disabilities and people with mental health problems
are more likely to experience major illness, to develop serious health conditions at an
earlier age and to die of them sooner than other people. Yet they are also less likely
to receive some of the important evidencebased
treatments and health checks than
others with the same condition but without a mental health condition or learning
disability. They also face real barriers to accessing services.
People with learning disabilities and mental health problems experience ‘diagnostic
overshadowing’ – their physical ill health is viewed as being part of their mental
health problem or learning disability, and so it is not investigated or treated properly.
Despite high levels of ill health, over 50% of people with mental health problems
and/or people with learning disabilities said they experienced difficulties when trying
to see their GP. Key barriers include the attitudes of reception staff, inflexible
appointment systems and inaccessible information, including information on the sideeffects
of psychiatric medication. A small number said that they were not registered
or struck off a GPs’ list because they were deemed too demanding.
you only have to google the words learning disabilties, death, nhs to see the evidence so i agree with pete that it is a case of an un / ill informed GP.
I do wonder about the annual health check becoming a box ticking activity as well. A health check is of no use to anyone unless the results and/or advice given is acted upon. With so many people with learning disabilities being "supported" by untrained staff within voluntary organisations much of the valuable information and advice is lost. The medical profession must become more aware of the specific needs of individuals with intellectual disabilities and mental health needs. Too many support staff are unclear about their roles and with family members in some cases being Ignored or not listened to when reporting symptoms of ill health I feel an annual health check is next to useless. Most GPs are very understanding of the health needs within their practice but the problem lies within the NHS Hospitals where only those with the loudest voices will be listened to. I had to fast for 2 days in a row while waiting for an exploratory procedure. My next bed neighbour had to fast for 5 days.I indicated that I was unhappy and would make a formal complaint if my op was cancelled again. She didnt say a word. I got my op next day. She didnt. She was almost 35 yrs older than me.
The author of the article is not only a General Practitioner but is the parent of a disabled child. I believe that being in such a position makes him better informed than most.
In the last 3 months the subject of medical model vs social model has been a recurrent theme in my work placement.I have attended medical appointments with several different service users and feel the doctor or nurse in most cases were poor in their approach to the service user.
Other examples are prescribing medication for epilepsy but the serivce user has no conclusive diagnosis of epilepsy but 'ah well it will stabilize their mood'...awful. Yes, I have challenged this one and this is now under review!!!
I have also been doing some work with health action plans as this will put the service users health needs as a priority. I know that the healthcare facilitation manager is working with the PCT to get learning disability trained staff on each ward.
I have been amazed at the attitude of the medical profession that I have discovered whilst on placement. I spoke about this with a Manager of a home yesterday who summed it up as 'not much has changed in 20 years'.......
"The author of the article is not only a General Practitioner but is the parent of a disabled child. I believe that being in such a position makes him better informed than most."
Anecdotal evidence does not prove a hypothesis.
here
is some thing relevant from the BBC news website