Health and Well-being Event
It is widely recognised that people with learning disability face inequalities in healthcare, experience poorer health than their non-disabled peers and face barriers to accessing timely and appropriate services.
On behalf of the All Wales Strengthening the Commitment Steering Group, the School of Healthcare Sciences hosted a listening and sharing event with people with learning disability, families, carers and other stakeholders. The purpose of the day, on the 11th of May, 2016 was to share information about accessing healthcare and identifying what services and resources was available to people with learning disability.
Sue Beacock, Nursing Officer, Welsh Government opened the event highlighting the importance of listening to the experiences to inform future practice. Professor Ruth Northway, University of South Wales discussed Strengthening the Commitment the report of the UK Modernising Learning Disabilities Nursing Review.
The day comprised of presentations and table top activities. The 1000 Lives learning disability care bundle and the importance of accessing annual health checks was introduced by the BCUHB Health Liaison Team. The Question-Aires inclusive research group shared the results of their Healthy Eating study. An engaging presentation from Jane Williams and Ifan Williams (BCUHB, learning disability nurses) on the usefulness of using books Beyond Words to coproduce narratives and engage people in conversations about health was well received. Tracy Lloyd, MacMillan specialist learning disability nurse and Wendy Thomason from Carmarthenshire People First introduced the Check 4 Change project. The project puts health education and awareness directly into the hands of people with learning disability, empowering people to learn about the importance of early cancer screening and improving experiences and outcomes for people with learning disability affected by cancer. Simon Meadowcroft, Mental Health Liaison Nurse, BCUHB shared his experience of working with individuals to create Patient Stories that can inform future practice. Georgina Hobson and Carrie Sheild, (BCUHB, learning disability nurses) shared their expertise on the therapeutic role of learning disability nurses and the current range of therapies that nurses are involved in providing.
Using electronic voting an evaluation of the day was conducted by Gary Costa and Anthony Green of Mencap Cymru. From the eighty two delegates that attended all noted that they enjoyed the day and 98% said they would want to attend another Health and Well-being Event.
Ruth Wyn Williams from the School of Healthcare Sciences, who facilitated the day, thanked the learning disability nursing staff from BCUHB for assisting with the planning and organisation of the event and to the BU learning disability nursing students for assisting on the day. The event was supported by the School of Healthcare Sciences, Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, Welsh Government, BCUHB learning disability nursing service, Books Beyond Words, Mencap Cymru, Macmillan and Carmarthenshire People First.
Publication date: 25 May 2016