Source · Select Committees · Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 9
9
Not Addressed
Paragraph: 64
Prior to the pandemic, people with learning disabilities experienced health inequalities and faced difficulties accessing...
Recommendation
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.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government response does not address the recommendation about setting targets for the reintroduction of annual health checks for people with learning disabilities, instead discussing a new plan for education for children with special educational needs.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
64
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government · verbatim extract
Not Addressed
Although Covid-19 has impacted the ability of GPs to complete annual health checks and health action plans for people with a learning disability, they remain a priority for the NHS. NHS England and Improvement (NHSE/I) has taken several steps to support uptake and delivery of health checks throughout the pandemic. NHSE/I ran an annual health checks campaign during the autumn and winter within their seven regions to promote uptake. An additional £325,000 has been specifically invested to help increase uptake and improve access for the most vulnerable and hard to reach groups including young people aged 14–19, Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people, travellers and gypsy communities and people who have not had an annual health check before or for over two years. This is in addition to the GP Covid Capacity Expansion Fund of £150 million to support the expansion of general practice capacity up until the end of March 2021. NHS leaders have also emphasised the importance of completing annual health checks and health action plans for people with a learning disability through regular bulletins and letters to primary care providers. In the longer term, the NHS Long Term Plan sets out that by 2023/24, 75% of people with a learning disability on a GP learning disability register will have an annual health check. 8 Fourth Special Report of Session 2019–21
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