King's Fund: Towards a new partnership between disabled people and health and care services: getting our voices heard
Disabled people's voices need to be valued and prioritised in the planning and delivery of health and care services. This long read sets out the findings of research carried out by The King's Fund and Disability Rights UK into how disabled people are currently involved in health and care system design, and what good might look like.
Inclusion of People with Disabilities in Research to Improve Medication Adherence: A Systematic Review: The document discusses a systematic review of 182 studies that found people with disabilities are often excluded from medication adherence intervention research. The study found that a significant percentage of studies excluded people with cognitive, visual, motor, and hearing impairments. The document suggests that researchers need to be more thoughtful and intentional in their inclusion and exclusion criteria and plan for accommodations to include people with disabilities in medication adherence research. Further research is needed to identify barriers to the participation of people with disabilities and create an inclusive list of barriers to study participation.
How to achieve inclusivity and diversity in medical research: insights from a disability activist: Becca Wilson is a Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool and a disability activist, striving to improve inclusivity and accessibility in the academic sector. In this interview she talks about ableism within medical research and what can be done to improve heath equality.
Healthcare access for autistic adults: A systematic review - Published July 2020
Access to healthcare for disabled individuals: An analysis of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights from an ethical perspective - Published January 2023
The importance and availability of adjustments to improve access for autistic adults who need mental and physical healthcare: findings from UK surveys - Published March 2021
A Systematic Review of What Barriers and Facilitators Prevent and Enable Physical Healthcare Services Access for Autistic Adults - Published May 2019
Useful Resources:
Reforming the Mental Health Act white paper 2021: The Government published the Reforming the Mental Health Act white paper in August 2021, which sets out proposed changes to the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA) and wider reforms of policy and practice around it.
Government response to the Joint Committee on the draft Mental Health Bill - Published 21 March 2024
Response to the Joint Committee’s recommendations for the draft Mental Health Bill to reform the Mental Health Act 1983 and deliver a modern mental health service.
2024/25 Priorities and Operational Planning Guidance - 2I. People with a learning disability and autistic people. In this section NHS identifies the key actions to ensure that people with a learning disability and autistic people are admitted into a mental health inpatient setting only for the purpose of care and treatment of mental health conditions, and that they receive the right model of care and support in this setting.
Approaches to improving mental health care for autistic people: a systematic review
Approaches to improving mental health care for autistic children and young people: a systematic review and meta-analysis - Published May 2024
Applicability and Psychometric Properties of General Mental Health Assessment Tools in Autistic People: A Systematic Review - Published April 2024
A systematic review of the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of health and social care professionals towards people with learning disabilities and mental health problems: The research shows that health and social care professionals who do not work in learning disability services are not comfortable working with people with learning disabilities because they do not know enough about them and have not had proper training.
What is neurodiversity? Neurodiversity is the idea that our brains and minds naturally perceive, process, and present information in different ways.
The term is often used to describe neurodevelopmental differences such as ADHD, autism, and dyslexia.
Health Education England - Guide to practice-based learning (PBL) for neurodivergent students: It is important that as a neurodiverse community our voices are heard, as we are experts through our own living, studying, and working as neurodivergent individuals. This guidance has allowed the authors as neurodiverse students to share their experiences and to participate in shaping decisions that affect their learning and journey to becoming registered clinicians. These shared experiences will give expert knowledge to all those involved in making clinical practice environments a safe and supportive place for neurodivergent individuals to grow and evolve.
Autistica: Understanding ADHD webinar. In this webinar we are joined by Emma Weaver from The ADHD Foundation Neurodiversity Charity, where she shares practical information about ADHD, how it might impact someone and what the diagnosis process is like for children and adults.
Useful Resources
NHS England: Workforce Disability Equality Standard. The Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) is a set of ten specific measures (metrics) which enables NHS organisations to compare the workplace and career experiences of disabled and non-disabled staff. NHS organisations use the metrics data to develop and publish an action plan. Year on year comparison enables NHS organisations to demonstrate progress against the indicators of disability equality.
NHS Workforce Disability Equality Standard - Barts Health Data Summary and Action Plan 2022 / 2023
Summary Report using data from April 2022 - March 2023
NHS Employers: Embedding the Workforce Disability Equality Standard. Learn about the Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) and access guidance and resources to help you support staff with disabilities.
NHS Employers - Supporting disabled staff in the workplace: Find out about the different types of disability and what the NHS is doing to support its disabled workforce.
NHS Employers: Making reasonable adjustments to support disabled staff in their roles. Employers have a legal responsibility to make workplace adjustments for disabled staff or those with long-term health conditions.
NHS Employers: Disability Summit 2023. To help build a disability positive NHS we held our annual Disability Summit on 29-30 November 2023.
Understanding and supporting staff with a hidden disability: Watch our video and webinar recording to learn about the different types of hidden disabilities and how you can support staff in the workplace.
Internships for staff with learning disabilities - 29 May 2024
Find out how you can support people with learning disabilities into the workplace through supported internships.
Barts Healt NHS Trust five staff diversity networks organise regular events and courses that covers every aspect of Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion. For more details on how to join and attend future events and training, please click here.
elearning for healthcare - Disability Matters is an innovative elearning programme for anyone working or engaging with disabled children and young people (aged 0-25 years). Co-developed with disabled young people and parent carers the sessions will improve your recognition and management of disability issues, teach you to communicate effectively and give you the confidence to support children and young people achieve the outcomes that matter to them.The elearning can also be used by individuals and diversity teams to develop a welcoming and inclusive culture across NHS services.
NHS - Overview Learning Disabilities
NHS England provides information in easy read for people with a learning disability.
For Reasonable Adjustments please find contact email bartshealth.reasonableadjenq@nhs.net which sits within the Employee Wellbeing Service (EWS).