The Six Lives report in 2009 investigated the provision of public services to people with learning disabilities following the deaths of the six people with learning disabilities highlighted in Mencap’s Death by Indifference report. The Department of Health in its response committed to providing progress reports on the recommendations and this report has been recently [read the full story…]
In February this year, we posted about new summary information sheets produced by the challenging behaviour foundation. This month sees the launch of a new series of three information sheets which look at the causes of challenging behaviour, and explain how to make effective plans to reduce it. The information sheets are designed to provide [read the full story…]
In the mid 1990s, a questionnaire study carried out by Carr and Hollins in Wandsworth suggested that menopause may occur earlier in women with learning disabilities and that for women with Down syndrome, it may occur earlier still. These findings were strengthened by work a couple of years later in a U.S. study by Schupf [read the full story…]
Short breaks offer an opportunity for the person supported to be away from home and for family carers the opportunity to recharge depleted batteries. Earlier this year, we reported on the publication of Mencap’s survey of families which suggested that 8 out of 10 families surveyed reported they had reached breaking point, reporting high levels [read the full story…]
Following concerns raised by recent investigations into the quality of healthcare of the national nursing strategy, ‘Compassion in Practice’ has set out a vision for nursing based on the 6 ‘C’s of Care, Compassion, Competence, Communication, Courage and Commitment. Action area 5 of the strategy is looking at ensuring right staff with the right skills [read the full story…]
In 2010, the Department of Health published Raising our Sights, Professor Jim Mansell’s report into services and supports for people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities. The Government’s response was to broadly welcome the report’s recommendations and “its central message that the major obstacles to wider implementation of policy for adults with profound intellectual and [read the full story…]
People with learning disabilities have an increased prevalence of mental health problems compared to the general population, however, in the absence of an agreed model there is currently a wide variety of provision, including community and bed-based services. The Joint commissioning panel for mental health have produced a guide for commissioners to describe the current [read the full story…]
People with learning disabilities have been found to have increased risk of developing mental health problems. The knowledge of mental health issues amongst support workers however is also known to be sometimes lacking. The authors of this study were interested in looking at what support workers knew about mental health of older people with learning [read the full story…]
BILD’s communication factsheet suggests that estimates of the proportion of people with learning disabilities who have difficulties with communication vary between 50% and 90%. For many people with learning disabilities, this communication will be non-verbal, or working at a pre-lingual level, which mean the use of many means including gesture, facial expression, sign language, picture [read the full story…]
There is a wide literature on support for people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour, and studies looking at staff attitudes and attributions form a part of this. These studies have looked at inconsistencies in responses, the impact of specific attributions on helping behaviour etc. The authors of this current study acknowledge the contribution of [read the full story…]
