Recommendation 9

Prior to the pandemic, people with learning disabilities experienced health inequalities and faced difficulties accessing healthcare and receiving accurate diagnoses and effective treatments. They had increased risks of dying from a range of illnesses, including respiratory infections. These problems have been exacerbated by coronavirus, to which, emerging data suggest, people with learning disabilities may be disproportionately susceptible. It is therefore vital that annual health checks for people with learning disabilities, designed to identify previously unrecognised health needs, are fully reinstated across the NHS as soon as possible. We welcome the British Medical Association’s (BMA) and NHS England’s recognition of the importance of improving care for people with learning disabilities, and their agreement that restoration of services is a quality improvement requirement for GP practices for the remainder of this financial year. We recommend the Department of Health and Social Care work with the BMA, NHS and organisations representing people with learning disabilities, including user-led groups, to set stretching but achievable longer-term targets for the full reintroduction of annual health checks across the NHS and for the percentage of disabled people who attend them.