Improving Health and Lives (IHaL) is the Learning Disabilities Public Health Observatory: a three year project funded by the Department of Health in response to Sir Jonathan Michael’s 2008 inquiry into access to healthcare for people with learning disabilities. The national observatory aims to provide better, easier to understand information on the health and wellbeing of people with learning disabilities and to help commissioners to make use of existing information whilst working towards improving the quality and relevance of data in the future.
This report from the Improving Health and Lives learning disabilities public health observatory www.improvinghealthandlives.org.uk aims to translate key messages from research into health inequalities into advice for commissioners
The document provides guidance for those people with responsibility for commissioning services to enable them to increase access to, and improve healthcare for people with learning disabilities.
Key actions for commissioners to address inequalities are set out in the report and include:
- Ensuring health inequalities faced by people with learning disabilities are carefully documented in the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA)
- Taking action to commission with all relevant partner agencies, services which address the determinants of health inequalities where these are linked to:
- social factors such as poverty and poor housing
- specific conditions
- poor communication and understanding of health issues
- individual lifestyles
- the way healthcare is delivered.
- Improving the number and quality of annual health checks.
- Ensuring that requisite reasonable adjustments are implemented in all health care settings.
- Raising awareness of healthy lifestyles with people who have learning disabilities, their families and paid supporters.
The full report is available in pdf from the IHAL website:
