Wednesday 20th September 2017 Visiting the Doctor Good Health Group Wednesday 20th September 2017

Presented by: Nicky Wells Chair of the Kent Good Health Group Picture Xan Brooker Co-Chair of the Kent Good Health Group

How it started Picture of Nicky We met to talk about what we should focus on in the Good Health Group. Over a cup of Coffee Nicky and I were talking about Doctors. Nicky said: “We know that people with Learning Disabilities don’t go to the GP because of the way they’re treated” Picture of Nicky

Nicky’s right…. Here are some of the ways we know Nicky is right. The British Medical Journal 2016 – Emily tells us about seeing a Doctor who was not good at making reasonable adjustments and how this made her feel frightened about seeing her GP who turned out to be very good. Wullink et al, 2009 talked to people with learning disabilities and GPs. They found that GPs think they are really good at communicating but people with Learning Disabilities think they could be much better.

Nicky’s right…. The General Medical Council (GMC) has made a video with people with Learning Disabilities who tell Healthcare Professionals what they want. The presentor says: “I, like you, want a health service which responds to us as individuals and meets our individual requirements in a way in which we feel comfortable with and this is about all of us, not about a special or segregated group of people because the views that are expressed in this film are things that affect everybody, not just people with learning difficulties.”

We also know… Mencap says that not enough people with learning disabilities are on the GP Learning Disability Register This means that GPs don’t even know that lots of people have a Learning Disability That makes it really hard for the GP, and their staff to know the best way to help people get seen in the best way

! Nicky said…. Picture of Nicky “You don’t always get to see a doctor face to face, sometimes it’s just a telephone consultation. A Doctor on the phone isn’t good enough for some people, or they’ll just talk to the carer.” But we want Doctors to talk to people with learning disabilities! Picture of Nicky !

So? People like me are working to try and make health services better for people with Learning Disabilities. I talk to Clinical Commissioning Groups, Public Health, the Council and Providers to try and get services to make reasonable adjustments. These are all people who are in charge of making healthcare good for everyone

Clearly we’ve been missing something We talk about services making reasonable adjustments once you’re in but it seems that this happening in the first place to get people with Learning Disabilities seen in the first place. No wonder GPs don’t have up to date registers!!

? We would like to know about your experience What happens when you try and see a GP? Do you always get to see your GP? Do phone calls work for you? What do you think GPs could do better? Can you think of anything else that could make things better? Can you think of anyone else that might be helped by what you say? ?

? We would like to know about your experience Have you ever had a double (or extra long) appointment at your Doctors? Have you ever made a complaint or told your GP Practice what they can do better? When was your last medication review? Do you know about your GP practice Patient Participation Group? ?

Do you have any questions?

Some things that might need explaining The British Medical Journal is a Medical Research Journal that lots of Doctors read. It makes research about lots of different things available online so that people can make their services Better. Wullink et al, 2009. Wullink is the name of the person who led this research. ‘et al’ is a fancy way of saying ‘everyone else’ to keep it short. 2009 is the year the research was made available. The GMC is an organisation that helps protect patients and improve medical practice across the UK. They check that Doctors are trained and take action to keep patients safe.