John Northfield

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After qualifying as a social worker, John worked in community learning disability teams before getting involved in a number of long-stay hospital closure programmes, working to develop individual plans for people moving into their own homes. He worked for BILD, helping to develop the Quality Network and was editorial lead for the NHS electronic library learning disabilities specialist collection. This led him to found the Learning Disabilities Elf site with Andre Tomlin as a way of making the evidence accessible to practitioners in health and social care. Most recently he has worked as part of Mencap's national quality team and also been involved in a number of national website developments, including the General Medical Council's learning disabilities site.

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Evidence to guide treatment of dementia in people with learning disability may be lacking, but new areas of research might help

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As people with learning disabilities are living longer, then they are also experiencing age related disorders such as dementia, where they have been shown to have a higher risk than the general population. Here we look at a review of the current state of knowledge which looks at a range of issues, from prevalence, assessment, treatment and future directions for research.

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Direct training with accessible materials improves knowledge of medication and capacity to consent in small group of adults with learning disabilities

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Health information

People with learning disabiilties may be on multiple medications and be on them for long periods of time. They need access to the best possible support to help them make decisions about their medications. In this post, we look at an action research study that offered training to people to see if it improved their knowledge and their capacity to consent.

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Postural care pathway for people with learning disabilities

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Many people with learning disabilities have physical disabilities that restrict their movement and put them at risk of developing body shape distortions. Here we report on the development of a new postural care pathway, produced by the Postural Care Community Interest Company.

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National event for people with learning disabilities provides clear proposals for inclusion and development

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Choice report

Earlier this year, a national event organised by and for people with learning disabilities looked at the closure of long stay institutions. Here we reflect on the proceedings and the positive and constructive proposals that emerged.

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Learning Disability National Audit – feasibility study and recommendations and future plans

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The results of the feasibility study into a national clinical audit of learning disabilities was published last month. Here we consider the findings and the response from NHS England

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Behavioural approach helps woman with mild learning disability overcome low mood and anxiety

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We have posted a number of times on this site about approaches to adapting cognitive behavioural therapy to work with people with learning disabilities. Most recently, a team from University College published a series of documents representing a ‘manualised’ cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) treatment. The authors of this case study however set out to look [read the full story…]

Practical recommendations to improve uptake in cancer screening services by people with learning disabilities

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People with learning disabilities have low take-up rates for health promotion or screening activities. Work in the south west of the country to look at reasonable adjustments a couple of years ago resulted in a number of recommendations for local action along with recommendations to the national cancer screening programmes regarding the identification of people [read the full story…]

Physiotherapy led falls pathway service for adults with learning disabilities showed reduced falls in evaluation

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Recent NICE guidance suggested that 30% of people over 65 and 50% of people over older than 80 fall at least once a year and there is evidence that in people with learning disabilities there is some increased risk and this impacts on people of younger age. Finlayson, in a prospective cohort study suggested that [read the full story…]

Care pathway approach in assessment and treatment unit increased throughput and improved outcomes for adults with learning disabilities

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A recent report by the Royal College of Psychiatrists attempted to set out the range of in-patient service provision for adults with learning disabilities and set the role of assessment and treatment beds in the context of a broader range of services. They stated very clearly in that report that in-patient services should form part [read the full story…]