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Service-user involvement is important in learning disability services. Historically, professionals have struggled to involve service users fully in their care, and behavioural assessments and plans can be lengthy and complex. This article describes how a service user became fully involved in the development of his positive behavioural support plan and participated in training his care team. Involving service users in this way increases the validity and credibility of plans, empowers service users, promotes ownership and improves insight; and is, therefore, rewarding for service users and professionals. The article encourages nurses to be creative in meeting the challenges associated with service-user involvement to promote a person-centred approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International student exchange is an opportunity to discover and learn from practice in other countries but few students sign up. This article describes two European Union Erasmus Intensive Programmes that gave learning disability nurses from England and Scotland, special teachers from Sweden and Romania, and special educators from Norway, the opportunity to participate in international and multidisciplinary classroom learning about health, employment and educational services for people with learning disabilities. A module on this will be delivered online in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Learning Disability Mortality Review (LeDeR) programme aims to improve healthcare for people with a learning disability and those with autism. LeDeR, which was started in 2017, is funded by NHS England and NHS Improvement and has three aims: » Improve care. » Reduce health inequalities. » Reduce early deaths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Susan Baxter and Patrick Bradley argue that greater emphasis in nurse education on health promotion, health screening and health protection may help reverse cancer trends among people with learning disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Five years ago, a Canadian-Irish project called Transformative Praxis was set up to transfer education and healthcare knowledge, skills and resources to local communities in the Chilanga region of central Malawi. The organisation also arranges for education, nursing and international development students to take part in small research-oriented projects alongside local co-learners. Last year, the co-authors took part in one of these projects along with a professor of education and ten of his students from Quebec, Canada. In association with a local co-learner, they discussed intellectual disability with teachers, families and people with disabilities. This article presents an account of the work they undertook. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addresses the issue of medication and treatment for individuals with learning disabilities. Need for people with learning disabilities to be provided with full information about the psychotropic drugs they need to take; Conditions under which people with disabilities are given psychotropic drugs; Factors about psychotropic drugs that should be known to carers and professionals working with learning disabled people.

Support for people with learning disabilities became increasingly poorly aligned to their care and support needs amid austerity measures that followed the 2008 global financial crisis, a study shows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the reveals the struggle of parents of children with learning disabilities to get help during school summer holidays, according to a survey by learning disability charity Mencap.

The article announces that a campaign to improve the uptake of cervical screening among women with learning disabilities run by Newcastle upon Tyne National Health Services (NHS) Foundation Trust is the recipient of the National Cervical Screening award.

The author reflects on the historical developments in the treatment of patients with disabilities.