People With Learning Disabilities
Background
In May 2000 the Scottish Executive published The same as you? A review of services for people with learning disabilities, the first review of learning disability services for 20 years. It identified a range of service developments for Councils and NHS Boards to help people with learning disabilities
- be more involved in community life, employment, education, leisure and recreation and day opportunities
- have greater access to mainstream services and relying less on specialist services
Information
- Between 2004 and 2008, the Scottish Government published an annual Statistics Release on people with learning disabilities to support the implementation of 'The Same as You'. This related to the years 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 .
- In 2009, the Scottish Consortium for Learning Disabilities (SCLD), a group of 13 partner organisations funded by the Scottish Government, took over the role of publishing the Statistics Release, which related to 2008 data
[680KB]. - More detailed statistical information about people with learning disabilities and autistic spectrum disorder is in the eSAY database , also set up by the SCLD. Note that at present this database contains only test data.
- ISD collect information on people with learning disabilities receiving NHS Continuing Care.
- The Scottish Government has produced other information relating to adults in care homes, adults who receive day care or home care services or are in receipt of direct payments , but only up to year 2006.
Other Developments
- The Health Needs Assessment Report , published by NHS Scotland in 2004, highlighted that people with learning disabilities have both different and higher health needs, compared with the general population.
- To support the policy implementation of 'The Same as You', NHS QIS developed a series of quality indicators [950KB]to assess care given and pomote access to health care. All NHS Boards have since been reviewed against these indicators and a recent report, Tackling Indifference [1.6MB], published by NHS QIS in 2009 focussed on 2 areas and concluded there were a large number of areas where people with learning disabilities could not be assured they would receive a service meeting their needs.
