Good Health, Good Lives – reducing inequalities for people with a learning disability

Good Health, Good Lives’ brings together the NHSE Learning Disability Mortality Review (LeDeR) commissioned pilot and Health Innovation West Midland’s work with West Midlands Self Advocacy Network. Together, adult social care support providers and the NHS are collaborating to reduce health and social care inequalities for people with a learning disability to live better and longer lives.

This local work aligns to the national Managing Deterioration Safety Improvement Programme.

Support provider

The challenge

People with a learning disability are more than twice as likely to die younger, on average 22 years earlier (for males) and 26 years earlier (for females) when compared to the general population.  Of those with disabilities who died in 2021, half of their deaths were avoidable.

Many social care staff felt that they weren’t listened to by clinical staff, despite knowing the person best and already regularly identifying changes to their health. The programme wanted to equip social care staff with the skills, tools, and confidence to work with NHS staff to successfully present key information to them to quickly escalate the information that the person they support is deteriorating.

The approach

In collaboration with individuals receiving care for learning disabilities, the initiative spanned across four pilot sites, incorporating both urban and rural locales for a diverse demographic representation. The aim was to empower social care personnel with the necessary expertise and confidence to effectively liaise with NHS counterparts, expediting the communication of critical information concerning the deteriorating health of those under their care.

Potential tools suitable for testing within supported living services were evaluated, which led to the development of the bespoke ‘Keeping Well’ tool, tailored to the programme’s objectives.

Training sessions via virtual webinars were provided to supported care providers and clinical staff. The training was focused on education around the use of deterioration tools and quality improvement processes.

This partnership project helped build up and establish new regional strategic relationships and involved 91 people with a learning disability, 100 social care support workers, 10 general practices, community health teams and receptionists.

Using deterioration tools supported social care staff identify health concerns and provided them with a structured commination escalation tool to inform clinical staff of concerns and influence them to respond and get the person the care they need.

Within the wider West Midlands Managing Deterioration Safety Improvement Programme with care homes including learning disability care homes, using deterioration management tools see a 1% reduction in 999 calls, a 4% reduction in emergency admissions and a 5% reduction in length of stay in acute hospitals when compared to other homes/settings not using tools.