We offer assessment and support to people who have a learning disability (sometimes called an intellectual disability). Services for people with learning disabilities are provided in partnership/alliance by Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Derbyshire Community Health Services.
Grid page list
Watch our videos at the bottom of this page on STOMP - stopping over-medicating people with a learning disabilty, autism or both; on sepsis awareness; and on constipation awareness.
What services do you provide?
We have a number of community teams covering:
We also have:
- A support service for Royal Derby Hospital (see below)
- A forensic service supporting people in the criminal justice system who have learning disabilities, based at St Andrew's House in Derby
- A team that supports GP Practices with their Learning Disability Annual Health Checks
- An Intensive Support Service based at St Andrew's House in Derby.
Who works in the learning disability service?
Our team includes:
- Clinical psychologists
- Learning disability nurses
- Occupational therapists
- Physiotherapists
- Psychiatrists
- Speech and language therapists
- Strategic health facilitators - working with GPs, dentists, pharmacists and others to make sure people with a learning disability get the best possible care
- Team administrators.
How do you support people?
We use lots of person-centred approaches:
- Provide education – with regards to diagnosis and health problems, with further work as necessary
- Family and carer work – helping families and carers to understand behaviour, facilitating the development of skills, positive behaviour plans, enhancing coping mechanisms and promoting appropriate activity, occupation and communication
- Specialised individual therapies – behavioural approaches adapted for use with learning disabilities e.g. family work, Occupational Therapy, Sensory Processing Assessments and interventions, Social Stories, Special Hearing Clinic, eating and drinking advice, postural and mobility care.
- Pharmacological therapy (medicines) used sometimes when an individual has complex conditions
- Liaising and joint working.
Will you involve others?
We work closely with other people involved, with consent, to ensure a smooth and coordinated approach.
We might not just see you. We will talk to others involved in your care, and help other services to understand your needs (liaison). Some workers may contact us for advice (consultation) and we may also provide training for services that help you. Sometimes we will act as the main person to contact about your care (coordination).
How do I get an appointment with the learning disability service?
Referrals can come to us from you, your family or carer, your GP, or other profession and then we will invite you or your parent for a first appointment to learn more about you. We will often visit you at home or anywhere else more suitable for you.
What happens on my first appointment?
At the first appointment often we will meet with you and your parents or carers, sometimes we may see them on their own. We will try and work out if our service can help you. If we find out that your difficulties are not because of a learning disability, or you are a child or young person then we will ask another service to help. We also sometimes also gather all of the people involved in your care together to try and work together. We will meet you with your parents/carers at a place that suits you.
What happens next?
We will ask lots of questions and maybe watch the things that you do. Our assessment and advice or support will be in your community or where you live. We will provide help that is personal to you which will meet your health needs and support your family. We will consider the right things for your age, ability and culture. We will plan how to help with you and your carers. We think the best outcomes for people are when families and their wider support networks are fully engaged and invested and working in partnership with our team.
How can I learn more?
Click on the links above, or the buttons below, to find out more about the work of our team.
Learn more about the different types of learning disabilities, how to cope with a diagnosis and challenging behaviour, and much more, by visiting the NHS website.
Downloads
- Adult Neurodevelopmental Services - Referral Form
- Assuring Transformation Data - how information about you is collected
If you are going to get treatment at Royal Derby Hospital, one of our learning disability nurses can help you. They will support you and your family during your visit. Their job title is 'Acute Liaison Nurse for Learning Disabilities'.
Videos
There are also a number of videos that explain what it is like at Royal Derby Hospital. These have been made specially for people with learning disabilities. Click on the links below to open the videos in YouTube:
Reasonable Adjustments Wheel
To print a copy of the Reasonable Adjustments Wheel click here
People that can give you advice
Our Community Teams can help individuals with significant learning disabilities who need specialist support: learn more about these teams at the top of this page.
For information about improving the health of people with learning disabilities contact our Strategic Health Facilitation team: 01332 268455
Patients with Learning Disabilities attending the Royal Derby Hospital can have help from the Learning Disability and Neurodiversity team. You can contact the team on 01332 340131 ext 88611. Click here to see the UHDB website for information about the Learning Disability and Neurodiversity team. The national NHS website has a guide to help people with a learning disability to prepare for a stay in hospital.
Our Patient Experience Team (Complaints and PALs) can advise you about local services and help you with any questions or concerns.Tel: 0800 027 2128 (Freephone) or 01332 623751 Email: dhcft.patientexperience@nhs.net
Click here to find out more about how to look after yourself and keep well.
Videos
- Going to the Royal Derby Hospital video
- Having an X-Ray video
- The Emergency Department video
- Having a CT Scan video
- Easyhealth Cancer video
- Easyhealth Bowel and Bladder videos
- Jo's cervical cancer trust - The smear test film
- Click here to read about Emma's story and experiences of Hospital Admissions. This is a moving account written in April 2014 by Margaret Richards.
Other people and organisations that may be able to help
- Derbyshire County Council and Learning Disablility Partnership Board Information
- Learning Disability Carers
- Derbyshire Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy Service - 01332 290397
- Peak and Dales Advocacy Service - 01298 79539
- Umbrella (supporting disabled children and their families) - 01332 785658
- Choice and Control Charter (Derbyshire County Council) - 08456 058 058
- Derbyshire Mind - 01332 623732
- Derbyshire Autism Services Group
- Living Well with Autism Service
- Community Dental Services - accept referrals for patients with additional needs.
Information about your health
- The 12 month challenge for someone with a learning disability
- British Heart Foundation
- Help with NHS Health Costs
- Mencap (the voice of Learning Disability)
- Changing Places Toilets
- National Autistic Society
- Information for Carers - How to help people with Learning Disabilities to keep healthy
- Schedule of expected health appointments for adults with learning disabilities.
View Easy Read literature on our Easy Read health information guides section >>
To find out more about learning disabilities, see NHS Choices and the Mencap site
GMC advice for doctors on treating patients with a learning disability
- Autism Independent UK - www.autismuk.com
- Down's Syndrome Association - www.downs-syndrome.org.uk
- Klinefelter's Syndrome - www.ksa-uk.net
- Prader-Willi Association (UK) - www.pwsa.co.uk
- Rett UK - www.rettuk.org
- The Fragile X Society - www.fragilex.org.uk
- The National Autistic Society (UK) - www.autism.org.uk
- Turner's Syndrome Support Society (UK) - www.tss.org.uk
- Williams Syndrome Foundation - www.williams-syndrome.org.uk
- Choice Forum, incorporating Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities Network (PMLD) - www.choiceforum.org
- British Institute of Learning Disabilities - www.bild.org.uk/about-bild/aboutbild
What is the issue?
The Disability Partnership’s Pharmacy Project reported in 2016 that many pharmacies are providing a reasonably good service. However, there still remain issues with communication. Not all pharmacists are explaining why or how to take the prescribed medication.
What is the risk?
The Confidential Inquiry into premature deaths of people with learning disabilities (CIPOLD 2013) looked into the deaths of 247 people. It identified a number of frequently reported problems with medication, including:
- the person not taking or not being given prescribed medicines, or not being given the correct dose
- medicine being prescribed in a form the person could not take (due to swallowing difficulties) and family carers or staff devising unsafe solutions
- lack of monitoring for side-effects or unreliable monitoring.
What advice is available?
Making reasonable adjustments
Read Public Health England's report, 'Pharmacy and people with learning disabilities: making reasonable adjustments to services'.
Choice and Medication
View Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust's medication resources by visiting our Choice and Medication site.
E-learning
Visit the website of the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) for an accredited learning programme on learning disabilities.
Easy News is prepared by the charity United Response. It is a newspaper designed to be accessible for people with learning disabilities.
Politics and the news are often inaccessible to people with learning disabilities because of the use of jargon and difficult language. Easy News is published every two months and looks at important subjects in the news.
Videos
You can watch videos on this page about:
STOMP
STOMP - stopping over-medicating people with a learning disability, autism or both.
There are a series of videos on how to make sure medication levels are right for people with a learning disability, autism or both. You can also watch this as a playlist on our YouTube channel.
Video on sepsis
The video below provides useful information on sepsis for paid carers and professionals who support people with a learning disability.