MENCAP: Treat me right! Better healthcare for people with a learning disability (April 2003)

Summary

There is widespread agreement that people with a learning disability have poorer health than the rest of the population. There have been many policy reports and recommendations about how to improve this situation. So why is it that very little has actually changed?

Content

• Treat me right! seeks to engage with everyone involved in improving the health and the healthcare experiences of people with a learning disability. It summarises what is known about their health needs and looks at what is actually happening when people seek health service support.
• Treat me right! aims to build support for the changes that are needed, by proposing recommendations that will make a real difference.
• Treat me right! wants the health of people with a learning disability to be visible to public health practitioners when they assess the whole population’s health and take action to improve the health of the worst off.
• Treat me right! argues that professionals in all healthcare sectors need to show that they can do things better and rise to the challenge of improving the health of people with a learning disability.
• Treat me right! is a wake up call to the NHS. Through real stories, Treat me right! confirms sobering national and international research findings about the health of people with a learning disability. It shows that urgent action is needed to improve the health of people with a learning disability.