Health for people with learning disabilities across the life span

Abstract

Welcome to the first issue of BJLD for 2020 which presents a wide range of papers as a themed collection on the subject of health and people with learning disabilities across the life span – from early childhood to end of life. Health inequality and inequity continue to be problematic internationally, and affect this group of people disproportionately across their life span. In the UK it has been unequivocally established, and for some time, that people with learning disabilities receive poor care whilst in acute hospitals (Heslop, et al., 2013; Mencap 2012; Michael 2008; Mencap 2007). And it is thought that as many as 1, 200 people with learning disabilities die each year, these are avoidable deaths, often through a lack of training for staff (Mencap, 2018; House of Commons, 2018). And despite continued calls and compulsory training for all NHS staff such atrocities on the scale of a national scandal continue (Mencap, 2018). This makes it imperative that health as an issue remains high on any agenda, whether this relates to specialist learning disability services or the general health services to which most people with learning disabilities rely on as a consequence of inclusion. Their inclusion is to be applauded as long as they are treated in an equitable manner when compared with other citizens. This themed collection of papers explores this assumption through a series of health related papers from across the life span.