In what ways are a long term ventilation service able to support the care of adults with learning disability?

Abstract

<b>Abstract Title:</b> In what ways are a long term ventilation service able to support the care of adults with learning disability? <b>Abstract Body:</b> The annual learning disability mortality review report (LeDer) 2019 report states that people with learning disabilities are more likely to die from an avoidable cause than those without a learning disability, with the commonest mode of death being pneumonia or aspiration pneumonia. Addressing risk factors for pneumonia is key to the management of this patient group, but no clearly defined services exist for this purpose. We developed an innovative service within our long term ventilation (LTV) service to address this clinical need. Patients can be referred to our LTV service for respiratory review for a holistic assessment, including review of salivation, infection management, cough failure, ventilation and emergency health care planning. Using our database we retrospectively identified all the learning disability patients referred to our LTV service in the last 3 years. We reviewed the treatments provided by the multidiscplinary LTV service has provided- figure 1. 36 patients were referred to our service. The commonest intervention initiated was hypersalivation management (52.8%). 47.2% were initiated on domicillary NIV. 38.9% % had prophylactic antibiotics initiated (nebulised or enteral). Emergency healthcare planning was initiated in 47.2% of patients seen. <b>Conclusion:</b> Our LTV team are providing holistic are for this group of patients through our multidisciplinary team as suggested by the LeDer report. We feel we have demonstrated that LTV teams are well placed to provide this service this patient group.