The Community Specialist Health Learning Disability Team at Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) is supporting GP practices in south east Essex to enhance care for people with learning disabilities.
The team is leading the rollout of the Learning Disability Friendly GP Accreditation Scheme in Castle Point, Rochford, Southend and Thurrock.
Partners including NHS Mid and South Essex, Sport for Confidence, Healthwatch Essex, Essex Carers Network and Essex County Council have also helped support GP practices to meet the scheme’s standards.
Audley Mills Surgery in Rayleigh is the first GP practice in the area to be officially accredited and recognised for its efforts to support people with learning disabilities, showing excellence in care.
The Learning Disability Friendly GP Accreditation Scheme was set up to enhance service improvement and accessibility for people with learning disabilities and ensure equitable access to healthcare.
For patients this means being able to access good quality annual health checks and GP practices. For practices, this involves working in ways that are supportive and proactive for people with learning disabilities.
During the accreditation process,Audley Mills Surgery took part in a plan and review process to ensure it met the standards set out in the scheme. It demonstrated examples of good practice and took on recommendations to make the practice even more accessible.
This included showing how teams support people with learning disabilities, the reasonable adjustments that are in place, and learning disability training.
Above all, the practice fully demonstrated its commitments to its patient group by providing continuity of care and building good relationships with patients. Staff were able to recognise a clear deterioration in a patient’s health, resulting in the GP acting promptly to the medical emergency. They also advocated for the patient to receive the necessary care and treatment.
Dr Wright and Dr Saville from Audley Mills Surgery said: “As a busy practice, we know there are many challenges, but learning disability health checks have always been a priority for us.
“Working through this accreditation process has highlighted areas we might not otherwise have considered, and we believe these changes will help enhance the experience of this vulnerable group of patients.
“Sometimes it is only when you take the time to sit down and reflect that meaningful improvements happen – and we are grateful for that opportunity and proud that this accreditation recognises our commitment to being a learning disability-friendly practice.
“We will continue to build on this and look for further ways to improve the care and support we provide.”
Samantha Martin, a Specialist Health Nurse at EPUT and Lead of the Learning Disability Friendly GP Accreditation Scheme, said: “This scheme showcases good quality work, which can be echoed across the primary care networks, looking at what is working well within surgeries and any improvements or gaps that are trending.
“It is important that we, as primary, secondary and/or specialist services, work in collaboration to support good quality care for our patients.”
The Boards of all NHS organisations in mid and south Essex (The Integrated Care Board and providers) have agreed a new Medium-Term Plan – a five-year roadmap to improve care, make services more efficient and build a healthier future for everyone. This scheme supports this plan, work to tackle health inequalities across mid and south Essex, and the NHS’s 10-Year Health Plan.