Local NHS supports Learning Disability Week

To support Learning Disability Week the South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which provides specialist NHS learning disability services to people in Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield, will be involved in a number or displays and events at local hospitals calling for local health organisations to ‘get it right’.

Learning Disability Week is Mencap’s national awareness week and this year it runs from 21st – 27th June and is campaigning for the NHS to ‘get it right’ when treating people with a learning disability.

This year’s campaign is more important than ever to the Trust because the whole focus is on improving healthcare. Since the Trust first formed in 2002 it has been working with partners in local authorities and NHS organisations to promote equal healthcare for people with learning disabilities. This year’s campaign calls for all health organisations to improve care for people with learning disabilities and strive to the high standards like the Trust sets out to achieve.

The Mencap ‘getting it right’ charter sets out nine key actions that bodies responsible for healthcare are asked to put into practice. Locally many of these actions are being achieved by the Trust, but to promote them further information will be displayed at Pinderfields General Hospital and Dewsbury and District Hospital during learning disability week.

The information events are being jointly organised by the Trust, local PCTs and Mencap and will aim to enable local people to come together and raise awareness of the needs of people with learning disabilities.

Nigel McLoughlin, professional lead nurse for learning disabilities for the Trust said, “People are celebrating this important week in lots of different ways across the country. As a provider of a specialist service it is important to us to support such events wherever we can, not only to strengthen the work we are doing as an organisation, but to support the partnerships we have that are incredibly important to us. The added benefit of such events is that people can come and talk to us and find out about the services we provide and become involved in the development of them.”