Systemic safety inequities for people with learning disabilities: a qualitative integrative analysis of the experiences of English health and social care for people with learning disabilities, their families and carers (28 January 2022)

Summary

This study in the International Journal for Equity in Health aimed to understand the care experiences of people with learning disabilities, and explore the potential patient safety issues that they and their carers raised. The authors examined the lived experience of care for people with learning disabilities through focus groups and narratives posted on the public platform Care Opinion.

The study identified a series of safety inequities and gaps in systems affecting people with learning disabilities. The authors recommend considering interventions to protect against these inequities at a policy and organisational level and highlight that policy needs to span both health and social care.