Among the issues to be debated at next month’s RCN Congress in Harrogate is a resolution focusing on the right of people with learning disabilities to receive equitable health care. Here, Michelle Persaud and colleagues from the RCN Learning Disability Nursing Forum set out the background to this resolution and call on LDP readers to get involved

With the closure of the majority of the long-stay learning disability hospitals and the development of community-based services, primary care teams are now the first point of contact for most people with a learning disability who need to access healthcare services. However, people with learning disabilities are not a homogenous group and thus, as individuals, their needs vary greatly.