Raising awareness of the Learning Disability Annual Health Check
The Trust’s Learning Disabilities Primary Care Liaison Team has been working with Nottinghamshire and Nottingham Clinical Commissioning Groups to re-launch ‘Check It Out’, the Learning Disability Annual Health Checks campaign.
The re-launch of the campaign aims to increase awareness and uptake of annual health checks for people with learning disabilities by encouraging patients and carers to book an appointment.
Annual health checks are offered by GP Practices. People with a learning disability can sometimes find it hard to know when they are unwell or recognise symptoms of illness. A health check, once a year, is an opportunity to visit their GP Practice and build relationships with the staff team. This allows people the time to talk about anything that is worrying them about their health and get advice to improve or maintain their health and wellbeing.
Anyone over the age of 14 with a learning disability, can have an annual health check.
Marie McGahey, Primary Care Liaison Team Leader said: “Annual health checks are really important for people with learning disabilities who often have poorer physical and mental health than the general population. Health checks can improve people’s health by identifying problems sooner ensuring that they get the most appropriate health care. We hope this campaign increases the number of people who will take up the offer of the health check.”
You can find further information about the Learning Disability Annual Health Check at: www.nhs.uk/conditions/learning-disabilities/annual-health-checks/
NHS Health Check for Young People with Learning Disabilities flyer
