The Mencap Manifesto: Healthcare
The Mencap Manifesto: Healthcare

Too many people with a learning disability still cannot get the healthcare they need.

Mencap wants all the political parties to promise to improve healthcare for people with a learning disability.

Learning Disability Register
Mencap want more people with a learning disability to be on their GP’s
learning disability register
The learning disability register is a list of people with a learning disability that the doctor’s surgery looks after.
.

Being on the learning disability register means people can have an
annual health check
An annual
health check
A health check is when you see a nurse or doctor so they can help you to stay well.
is when you see a nurse or doctor once a year so they can help you stay well. Everyone aged 14 or over who has a learning disability should be invited for an annual health check.
and a health action plan.

Reasonable adjustments and accessible information
We want all information to be easier to understand and for people who work in healthcare to know how to meet the needs of people with a learning disability.

There are changes coming this year to help
NHS
The NHS is the National Health
Service
A service gives people what they need, like healthcare services that help people when they are ill, and support services that give people support.
. The NHS gives free healthcare to everyone in the UK and includes things like your GP (doctors) surgery and hospitals.
staff know when someone needs support.

There is going to be a new system to tell healthcare workers what reasonable adjustments a person needs.
This is called a reasonable adjustment flag.

There is also going to be an updated version of the
Accessible
Accessible means something is easy for people to use or join in with. For example: Accessible writing means the writing is easy to read and understand.
Information Standard.
This helps make sure healthcare workers know how to meet a person’s communication needs.

These new things won’t work unless there is enough support and training for healthcare workers, people with a learning disability and their families to know how to use them.
Also to take the time to make sure they work properly.

Learn from reports on health
Mencap wants the parties to promise to put in place the advice on improving healthcare from the Learning from Lives and Deaths Report (LeDeR) and other reports.

Learning Disability and Autism Training for Healthcare and Social Care Staff
Mencap wants to make sure that the new Oliver McGowan learning disability and
autism
Autism is a disability. Autistic people find it difficult to understand what other people think and feel. They also find it difficult to tell people what they think and feel. Everyone with autism is different.
training for all healthcare workers is the best it can be.

To make sure this happens we want all political parties to make sure there is enough money to do this.

One important part of the training is having people with a learning disability and, or autism give the training.

But some people with a learning disability and or autism are having problems with their benefits when they get this job.

Mencap wants the political parties to promise to make
the Department for Work and Pensions
The Department for Work and Pensions is sometimes called the DWP. It is part of
the government
The Government are the people who run the country. They decide how much
tax
Tax is the money that pays for things like schools, hospitals and the police. There are different types of taxes like
income tax
Income tax is the money that is taken out of the money you earn every month. It helps to pay for things we all need like hospitals and schools.
,
VAT
VAT is also called Value Added Tax. VAT is the extra money you pay when you buy things. The money goes to the government to pay for things like schools and hospitals.
and
council tax
Council Tax is the money that people pay to the council. It helps to pay for things like social care (support for people), parks and dustbin collection.
.
people should pay for things and how things like the National Health Service should work.
and manages payments and benefits like Universal Credit,
Personal Independence Payment
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is the name of a benefit that some people with a disability or health condition get. The money is to pay for extra help you might need to look after yourself and to get around. Some people who used to get
Disability Living Allowance
Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is the name of a benefit that some people with a disability get. The money is to pay for extra help you might need to look after yourself and to get around. Disability Living Allowance is being replaced by a benefit called Personal
Independence
Independence means doing things on your own. Making your own choices.
Payment (PIP).
(DLA) now get PIP instead.
,
Employment
Employment means having a job.
and Support Allowance, and Income Support.
help fix this problem and help people with a learning disability and, or autism get jobs to give the training.

More Learning Disability Nurses
There are not enough learning disability nurses in the NHS.

Learning disability nurses are very important as they can make sure people with a learning disability get the best healthcare and support.

Mencap wants all political parties to work with NHS England to train more people to become learning disability nurses.