Health

Children, young people and adults have the right to a healthy life, and be given the appropriate support to achieve this – Challenging Behaviour Charter

What actions need to be taken?

1. Ensure that people with a learning disability have access to early and appropriate psychological support 

While learning disabilities are not mental health problems, people with a learning disability can still have mental health issues. Having specialist training and services for supporting children, young people and adults with a learning disability who are experiencing mental health problems is crucial in tackling mental health inequalities, but services are patchy, eligibility criteria are strict, and capacity is limited. Without access to these specialised services, mental health issues can go unidentified or attributed to ‘just being part of someone’s learning disability’.  

The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England need to: 

• Ensure that each area has a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) and an Adult Mental Health Service (AMHS) that can provide specialist support to children, young people and adults with a learning disability 

• Increase access to training that can support clinicians working within CAMHS and AMHS services to be able to support people with a learning disability 

2. Put in place support for people with a learning disability and their families when they are visiting hospitals, GPs, and other medical services 

When people with a learning disability need to visit hospitals, GPs, or other medical services, they can face significant barriers. Learning Disability Liaison Nurses can help with supporting people with a learning disability and their families to access and navigate healthcare. 

The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England need to: 

• Recruit and train additional Learning Disability Liaison Nurses 

• Increase awareness of the role of Learning Disability Liaison Nurses

3. Tackle the lower life expectancy of people with a learning disability from ethnic minority backgrounds 

People with a learning disability, on average, die 19 years earlier than people in the general population – an inequality that needs to be tackled. But research shows that people with a learning disability from Black, South Asian, and minority ethnic backgrounds have a dramatically lower life expectancy than their white counterparts. The average age of death of people with a learning disability from minority ethnic backgrounds is 34 years, barely more than half that of their white counterparts (62 years). 

NHS England and Integrated Care Boards need to: 

• Ensure that the recommendations of the ‘We Deserve Better’ report are carried out 

In addition to this, multiple Learning from Lives and Deaths (LeDeR) reports have findings that indicate that people with a learning disability from black, black British, Caribbean, African or mixed ethnic backgrounds may be at greater risk of dying ‘avoidable’ deaths; however, due to the small sample sizes involved (with 94% of the cases analysed in 2022-2023 being white) this cannot be definitively proven. 

NHS England need to: 

• Commission specific research into whether people with a learning disability from black, black British, Caribbean, African or mixed ethnic backgrounds are at greater risk of ‘avoidable’ deaths 

We have worked to co-produce these actions and asks, building on years of work that has gone before it. We are happy to engage with policy makers at a local, regional, and national level about how we can get things right for people with a learning disability whose behaviour challenges. If you would like to talk about any of the actions in this plan, or any work you are planning on doing, please email actionplan@thecbf.org.uk