Abstract
The launch of the All Wales Strategy for people with learning disabilities in 1983 heralded an era of redressing the anomaly of 80% of resources being deployed in hospitals while the majority of people with learning disabilities lived at home (Welsh Office, 1983). Social services were given the lead responsibility to plan and co-ordinate services away from institutions towards community based facilities. In 1983, some 2,100 people with a learning disability were resident in hospitals and hostels; by April 1991 the number had fallen to just over 1,300. There was a concomitant development of services in the community with a rise in the number of adults living in ordinary accommodation from 170 to 1,000. The priorities for development of services in the second phase of the strategy were set out in the ‘Framework for Development’ from April 1992 (Welsh Office, 1993).
Highlights
The launch of the All Wales Strategy for people with learning disabilities in 1983 heralded an era of redressing the anomaly of 80% of resources being deployed in hospitals while the majority of people with learning disabilities lived at home (Welsh Office, 1983)
People with a learning disability are known to experience the same health problems as the general population but they may be affected by a greater variety and number, with increased frequency
Ill health in these people is often obscured by their impairment and uptake of health care and reporting of illness is low (Howells, 1986; Howells & Barker, 1990)
Summary
People with a learning disability are known to experience the same health problems as the general population but they may be affected by a greater variety and number, with increased frequency. Ill health in these people is often obscured by their impairment and uptake of health care and reporting of illness is low (Howells, 1986; Howells & Barker, 1990). In addition they have medical conditions associated with the underlying impairment. There is a growing fear that with the moving out from institutions the specialist medical knowledge is disappearing
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