Safety recommendation
It is recommended that NHS England and NHS Improvement strengthens its ‘Learning disability improvement standards for NHS trusts’ by including metrics which enable organisations to assess their progress against the outcomes for specialist learning disability teams.
It is recommended that as part of the work to support the NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England and NHS Improvement should develop a role and competency framework for learning disability liaison nurses, to ensure that people with learning disabilities and autistic people receive optimal care which respects and protects their rights.
Response:
Thank you for sharing the report. We were sorry to read about Alice’s tragic death and send our condolences to her family.
The national learning disability improvement standards were launched for NHS Trusts in 2018 with the aim they will apply to all NHS-funded care by 2023/24. They were designed by NHS Improvement with people with a learning disability, families, carers, and health professionals.
They help NHS organisations to measure the quality of service they offer to people with a learning disability and autistic people. The aim is to make sure there are consistently good standards across the NHS. The 4 standards cover:
- Respecting and protecting rights
- Inclusion and engagement
- Workforce
- Learning disability services standard (for specialist mental health trusts providing care to people with a learning disability and autistic people).
In 2019, the NHS Benchmarking Network sent a survey to NHS Trusts to ask how they were meeting the standards and to get the views of staff, people who use NHS services and families and carers.
New measurements (metrics) for Standard 1 and Standard 4 will be developed and included in the 2020 survey. NHS Trusts will be asked whether they have learning disability expertise across their services, and what this expertise consists of. This information will be used to identify any gaps and areas for improvement to ensure people receive effective support from the right professional at the right time.
A learning disability liaison nurse is a specialist nurse who supports people with a learning disability while they're in hospital to make sure they get the care they need. We are working with partners to define the role.
A national survey is being carried out to gather more information about the work that they do and, from this, a specific plan will be developed and published.
As part of the All England Plan for learning disability nursing launched in March 2020 www.easy-read-online.co.uk/media/53159/plan-for-learning-disability-nurses-easy-read-v4.pdf, an enhanced awards programme is being developed for registered learning disability nurses.
One of the awards will be for learning disability nurses working in acute hospital and primary care (GP) settings.
Step 1 We will develop and include new metrics in the 2020 benchmarking survey to support standards 1 (Respecting and Protecting Rights) and Standard 4 (Specialist learning disabilities services). These metrics will invite NHS Trusts to say whether they have provision of specialist learning disability expertise across their services, and if so, what this expertise consists of. TIMELINE: March 2021. Step 2 The data returned by NHS Trusts in the 2020 survey will be analysed to identify areas where targeted support/improvement may be required. TIMELINE: June 2021.
Action 1: As part of the All England action plan for learning disability nursing launched in March 2020, an enhanced awards programme, delivered as a post-registration qualification, is being developed for learning disability nurses. One of the awards will relate solely to learning disability nurses working in acute and primary care settings. TIMELINE: March 2021. Action 2: A national survey to gather more information about the work undertaken by learning disability liaison nurses. From this, a specific plan will be published. TIMELINE: March 2021
Response received on 17 June 2020.