People with learning disabilities give their views on emergency care
I fell out of bed, I was bleeding, and went in the ambulance. It wasn’t a long wait, and I saw a doctor. They were friendly and kind and nothing bad about it.
To gather views from local residents with learning disabilities we worked with the Power and Control Group at the Elfrida Society. They hosted two focus groups in May where we heard from 28 people. The discussions concentrated on emergency care at the Whittington, but also covered digital technology, health centres and doctors.
What people told us
- Nearly everyone made positive comments about medical staff at the Whittington. People found them friendly and kind, and praised their communication skills.
- It is not always easy to get access to the learning disability nurse at the hospital. The role of the learning disability nurse, and who they are, should be more widely communicated, both to people with a learning disability and to other staff in the hospital.
- A small number of service users and support staff spoke of long waits in Accident and Emergency and a lack of quiet spaces.
- Click here to find out more about the learning disability workshops
Feedback we received from residents with a learning disability has been included in a separate report on the entire engagement exercise. We also gathered feedback from Arachne Greek Cypriot Women's Group, Community Language Support Services, Disability Action in Islington, and Manor Gardens Welfare Trust. We shared our findings with Whittington Health.
