If you have a learning disability then we can help you when you come to hospital.
You might need to come to hospital for:
an appointment that you had planned
a stay overnight
an emergency
We help hospital staff give treatment and care if you have a learning disability or if you are Autistic.
We can:
Give advice to hospital staff to support your treatment
Give care to you if you have a learning disability
Tell staff about any reasonable adjustments you need
Support you and your family or carer
Talk to our teams about your needs and how to help you go home
Teach staff how to do things better for you
Give you information in a way that is easy to read
My name is Catrin Hegarty. I am a manager.
My name is Wendy Myers. I am a nurse.
My name is Pauline Henry. I am a nurse.
Learn more about what we do
We have a podcast. It is called Our People Podcast. You can listen to the learning disabilities episode by clicking play on the video below:
We need to make it easy for people with a disability to use our services. This is called making reasonable adjustments. Everyone with a disability has the right to reasonable adjustments.
Reasonable adjustments can be simple changes made by one doctor or nurse. Or they can be more complex and need many teams to work together.
They are different depending on the person. Everyone has different needs.
The Health and Care Passport is a document for people with a learning disability. You bring it with you when you come to hospital.
It helps staff understand more about you.
It has information like:
How best to talk to you
Things you like and don’t like
What makes you worried or upset
What help you might need at home
When you come to hospital you should share it with staff. Remember to take it home with you when you leave. It is your document to keep.
It needs to be updated if there are any changes. This might be things like something new that makes you worried.
We use the Health and Care passport that looks like this:
Other hospitals use other passports. It doesn’t matter which one you bring. The important thing is you share it with staff.
You can download a passport by clicking this link.
It can be hard when the person you care for is in hospital. You might want to still care for them. We will help you be as involved as you want to be.
As a carer you can ask for a Carer Passport. This helps you in different ways including:
Lets people know you are a carer
Helps you to support the person you care for while they are in hospital
Gives our staff information about the patient and how you support them
Raises awareness of carers and how important they are to our patients
Helps make sure that we help and care for our patients in the best way
You can find out more by clicking this link: Carer Passport
Autism Mind can give you advice if you are autistic and coming in to hospital.
