Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT) is committed to supporting people with learning disabilities and/or autism and their care networks.

We have two hospitals in North East London.

• King George Hospital
• Queen’s Hospital

In hospital (inpatient)

Some patients need to stay in hospital to have treatment because they are too unwell to stay at home.

At appointments (outpatient)

Some patients attend appointments with doctors, nurses, midwives and therapists.

In an emergency 

Some patients come to the Hospital’s Emergency Departments if they need to see a doctor quickly when they feel very unwell.

At planned tests and surgeries (elective)
Some patients need to come to hospital to have babies or for tests and operations which have been planned in advance. 

This Strategy states our key priorities for improving the care and experience for people with learning disabilities and/or autism when they come to our two hospitals or use our services.

The seven priorities in this Strategy were agreed in partnership with people with learning disabilities and/or autism and members of our Learning Disability and Autism Working Group.

The Strategy is a five year plan.

The progress of the Strategy will be monitored regularly by our Safeguarding Operational Group and the Learning Disability and Autism Working Group.

Person-Centred Care is about focussing on the individual person and ensuring that their views, wishes and opinions guide the care they receive.

Hospital Passport

We aspire to offer all people with learning disabilities and/or autism a Hospital Passport when they come to hospital. We will work with other services to think about using technology to share information.

Pain Management 

People with learning disabilities and/or autism may communicate pain differently and might need more support to tell us when they are in pain.

We will work with the Trust’s Pain Team to help people to communicate pain.

Reasonable Adjustments are changes we have to make to the hospital to make sure that people with learning disabilities and/or autism have equal access to healthcare.

Alerts

Staff working with patients need to know if they have a learning disability and/or autism.
We will work with other services so that we always know when someone with learning disabilities and/or autism comes to hospital. 

Communication

We will make sure that staff and patients have access to the right tools and training to support communication.

Environment

We will think about how we can change our hospital environment to meet the needs of people with learning disabilities and/or autism.

We want to make sure that we have staff with the right qualifications to support people with learning disabilities and/or autism in hospital.

Learning Disability and Autism Champions

We want to make sure that we have a staff member, or champion in each hospital team that is the go-to person for learning disabilities and autism support & information.

Learning Disability Nurse Career Map

We would like more learning disability nurses to work at our hospitals to make sure we have specialist staff to help deliver the best possible care.
We will make sure that the learning disability nurses know about the different jobs available.

Learning Disability Nurse Forum

We will make sure that the Trust’s learning disability nurses can attend regular meetings with the Learning Disability Team and service users to get the right support and guidance to improve care on their wards.

We will make sure that people with learning disabilities and/or autism are involved in decision making about their care.

Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards

We will make sure that patients and those important to them understand their rights and are included in decisions about them.

End of Life Care

 People with learning disabilities and/or autism approaching the end of their life must be included in planning their care and get all the support they need to communicate their wishes.

Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR, also often referred to as CPR)

We want to make sure that patients and staff have all the right support and information about DNACPR.

We want to make sure that all staff have access to the right training about how to support people with learning disabilities and/or autism.

Training Plan

We will make a plan for how we deliver training to our staff.
We will make sure this meets national standards.

Thinking Differently

We will think differently about how we deliver training and make sure that we are using the latest technology and teaching methods, like using service-user actors in training with staff.

Experts by Experience

Delivering and designing training will include people with learning disabilities and/or autism that have had experience of using hospital services.

We will make sure that people with learning disabilities and/or autism are involved in planning and designing  hospital services.

Learning Disability Working Group

We will meet every two months with people with learning disabilities and/or autism, carers, advocates and external partners to discuss hospital care and hear their points of view.

Safeguarding

We will work with other teams and organisations to ensure that patients get the right care and support to protect them from harm and abuse.

Engaging Technology

We will make sure that we are including people with learning disabilities and/or autism in plans to change hospital systems.

We will ensure that patients can still access care when they need it. 

Transition from children's to adult health services is really important. We want to start talking about transition early to make sure that it happens smoothly for our young people.

Planning

Young people with learning disabilities and/or autism will have access to a transition plan to help them understand what is happening and keep them in involved in decisions about their lives. 

It will include all the important people and professionals in their lives.

Autism

The care for people with autism can be different to those with learning disabilities. We will work with local services to make sure that we get transition right for people with autism.

Transition Family Forum

We will make sure that families and local schools are involved in transition planning. We will meet with them regularly to talk about planning transition for our young people.