Our friends at Norah Fry in Bristol who are responsible for carrying out the work on the confidential inquiry into premature death in people with learning disabilities have asked us to let you know that the final report of the study will shortly be available and that there will be two opportunities to hear some [read the full story…]
Recent reports on the response of the NHS in England to the health needs of people with learning disabilites have uncovered poor practice and a lack of knowledge and skills (see for example Mencap Getting it Right campaign) We posted earlier in the week about the impact of liaison nursing, one response of the health [read the full story…]
We have posted a number of times about the response of health services to the needs of people with learning disabbilites and recent reports have focused on the experience of people using general hospitals (see for example Mencap 74 Deaths and counting) One response to this concern has been the development of the Learning Disability [read the full story…]
Choice is one of the four fundamental principles of Valuing People, the white paper produced in 2001 to guide development of support for people with learning disabilities in England. This US study looks at this principle in practice using data from the 2008–2009 National Core Indicators Project. They looked at the impact of a number [read the full story…]
The EssenCES is a short questionnaire used for assessing the social climate of forensic psychiatric wards. The Climate dimensions measured are ‘Therapeutic Hold’, ‘Patients’ Cohesion and Mutual Support’ and ‘Safety’ (versus threat of aggression and violence). Studies in forensic services have suggested that the questionnaire is a valid instrument for assessing ward atmosphere. The authors [read the full story…]
Williams syndrome is a neuro-developmental genetic disorder caused by gene deletion estimated to have a prevalence of 1 in 7,500 to 1 in 20,000 live births. Previous studies have identified anxiety as part of the behavioural phenotype of the syndrome The authors of this US study set out to look at the effectiveness and adverse [read the full story…]
The tag cloud on the Learning Disabilities Elf blog shows quite clearly that challenging behaviour is the topic we post about most, which reflects the ratio in published studies. Challenging behaviour can have a major impact on the safety of the person, people they live with or people who support them and is a major [read the full story…]
In times of economic hardship, it would be easy to discount the contribution to emotional well being that taking part in arts activities can afford us. However, the arts offer opportunities for self expression and people with learning disabilities have the right to take part in creative and expressive activities, achieving new goals and potentially [read the full story…]
The recovery approach to mental health needs focuses on and provides support for a person’s potential for recovery, which is conceptualised more as journey than an outcome. At present, there is little in the literature looking at this approach with people with learning disabilities and mental health problems. However, as there is an increased prevalence [read the full story…]
One outcome measure of forensic services is the rate of re-offending. The author of this review was interested in this outcome, but in particular the contribution to this of speech and language therapy services. The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists recommend the involvement of speech and language therapy intervention in support to people [read the full story…]
