• To recognise the importance of annual health checks in identifying health conditions and reducing health disparities
• To learn about the experiences of health consultations involving people with learning disabilities, including potential barriers to care
• To consider how to promote engagement with annual health checks
Annual health checks in primary care improve the detection of health issues in people with learning disabilities. The NHS has set a target for at least 75% of people with learning disabilities aged 14 years or over to receive a health check every year by 2023-2024. However, not all primary care professionals are trained adequately in communicating with people with learning disabilities and the number of learning disability nurses in the NHS continues to decline. This article draws on the findings of a constructivist grounded theory study and other relevant literature to discuss the experiences of people with learning disabilities of interacting with healthcare professionals and what can be learned from these experiences to improve annual health checks.
Learning Disability Practice. doi: 10.7748/ldp.2023.e2224
Peer reviewThis article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software
Correspondence Conflict of interestNone declared
Chapman HM (2023) Improving annual health checks based on the health consultation experiences of people with learning disabilities. Learning Disability Practice. doi: 10.7748/ldp.2023.e2224
Published online: 14 September 2023
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