The Government have published their plans for how the NHS will work in the future.
It is called Fit for the Future: The 10 Year Health Plan for England
It has big ideas in it for making the NHS work better but also to help people live healthier lives.
Learning Disability England members were part of the consultations that led to this plan – you can read about that here.
Lots of things Learning Disability England members said are important are part of the plan.
This includes:
- Neighbourhood Health – getting health services local to you that join up with each other
- Helping people stay well (prevention)
- Investing in community support
- Help to exercise more and eat healthy food
The plan does not say a lot about how the detail of how these changes will be made. There is a lot that is not clear yet.
The plan talks about fair access to health care and stopping health inequalities, but it does not say how local areas might do that or the difference that health services will be expected to make.
The plan mentions the big health inequalities people with learning disabilities experience. It says the Neighbourhood health plan will solve that.
There is no more information to explain how that will help tackle health inequalities for people with learning disabilities.
It also doesn’t mention anything else that will be in place to make sure the new NHS means people with learning disabilities live healthy lives for longer.
We know members of Learning Disability England want to see
- Annual Health Checks leading to good Health Action Plans,
- The Leder report into deaths being published so there can be learning and improvements
- Support for Health for a Good Life
- Reasonably adjusted health services
Most importantly, members want to see people with learning disabilities included from the start in all policies.
Gary Bourlet, Self-advocate and Membership and Engagment Lead at Learning Disability England, says this about the plan:
“There are some changes in there I was pleased to see, but I’m not sure enough has been said about how they will address people with learning disabilities dying so much younger than the rest of the population. I can only hope they will be open to hearing from more people going forward about what we know would help solve this already.”
Learning Disability England is also part of the Valuing People Alliance – The Alliance is asking people what they thinks need to happen for people with a learning disability to be part of the plan.
Find out more and feedback your thoughts here.