Experiences of using a health community team service for people with a learning disability
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence and practice    

Experiences of using a health community team service for people with a learning disability

Kate Owen Clinical psychologist, Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Reading, England
Catherine Evers Consultant clinical psychologist, Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Reading, England
Olivia Hewitt Clinical psychologist, Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Reading, England

Aim To investigate the views of people with a learning disability on their experiences of the community team for people with a learning disability (CTPLD ) that is designed to meet their health and social care needs.

Method Two focus groups were held with people who have learning disabilities. A flip chart with photographs of the CTPLD members, pictures and vignettes about how people use the team’s services and a semi-structured interview schedule were used to ask participants about which healthcare professionals they had seen, what they had found helpful about the CTPLD and ideas for changes to the service.

Findings Participants identified positive areas of practice as well as areas for improvement. Participants reflected on their relationship with the team as well as individual professionals.

Conclusion The involvement of people with learning disabilities in the planning and development of the services that they receive should be an important focus for organisations. Participants’ suggestions enable the team members to improve the services they provide to people with a learning disability.

Learning Disability Practice. doi: 10.7748/ldp.2018.e1895

Citation

Owen K, Evers C, Hewitt O (2018) Experiences of using a health community team service for people with a learning disability. Learning Disability Practice. doi: 10.7748/ldp.2018.e1895

Peer review

This article has been subject to double-blind peer review and has been checked for plagiarism using automated software

Correspondence

olivia.hewitt@berkshire.nhs.uk

Conflict of interest

None declared

Acknowledgement

Many thanks to all the participants who so willingly took part in this research. Thank you to Sarah Warrell-Phillips who left the service to train as a clinical psychologist but completed the ethics committee application and literature searches

Published online: 18 September 2018

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