Other news The Mental Capacity Act is an
important law for people with a learning disability and dementia. It helps make sure that people who may lack capacity can make their own decisions and get the support they need to make those decisions. Our learning disability lead Debbie has been selected to be part of the national project group set up by NHS England to examine how the health sector can improve We’ve been supporting the national
Specialist training for our security team Our security team now has a better understanding of how to approach and interact with patients who have dementia, thanks to our dementia awareness training programme. Members of the team are often called out to support staff in dealing
with patients who display aggressive behaviour; sometimes that can be due to their clinical conditions, including dementia. The training was organised to help them understand and communicate better with these patients.
Treat Me Well campaign aims to improve healthcare for people with learning disabilities During the year, we joined forces with national charity MENCAP to launch Treat Me Well. This is a campaign to transform how the NHS treats people with a learning disability in hospital. It calls on hospitals all over the UK to make reasonable adjustments for people with a learning disability. The campaign aims to tackle the inequalities and poorer health outcomes of patients with learning disabilities compared with those who don’t. So far, we’ve held two local workshops for people with learning disabilities and their carers and plans are underway for a local
campaign group to help us identify where we can make improvements. As well as working with people with learning disabilities, our learning disability team Paul and Debbie are flying the flag for NGH at a parliamentary reception in Westminster this summer. They’ll be telling MPS and campaigners about the work we’re doing in Northampton to support our patients. Paul has also been invited to be part of the national Treat Me Well steering group where he’ll be using his experience to help influence the development of the campaign.
rollout of the Learning Disabilities Mortality Review programme (LeDeR). The programme has been commissioned by NHS England. It supports local areas in England to review the deaths of people with a learning disability to identify common themes and learning points and provide support to develop action plans to take forward the lessons learned We’re working with on a series of easy-
read documents se we can improve the way we provide information to patients including those with learning disabilities. You can find some of these on our website. We have a Changing Places toilet and
changing facility for people who need greater levels of accessibility than conventional toilets provide. It is located in area E on Hospital Street.
Support Do you or somebody you care for have dementia or learning disabilities? Are you anxious about a forthcoming hospital appointment? We’ve started a project to publish easy-read leaflets on our website explaining how some procedures work. We’re continually developing these leaflets so we’ll be adding to the website throughout the year. If there’s anything you’d like to see included, please let us know by emailing communications@ngh.nhs.uk
You can also get in touch with us Catherine Lowe Dementia Liaison Nurse. 01604 544516 catherine.lowe@ngh.nhs.uk Debbie Wigley Learning Disability Liaison Nurse Telephone: 01604 545431 Email: debbie.wigley@ngh.nhs.uk Paul Blake Learning Disability Support Worker Tel: 01604 545431 Email: paul.blake@ngh.nhs.uk Our year in review 2017-2018 ❘ Insight ❘ 9