Supporting Mencap’s Health Campaign
This update has kindly been prepared by our colleagues in Health.
We were delighted to support our local Mencap team last Thursday on the launch day of their national health campaign to improve hospital care for patients with learning disabilities.
The ‘Treat me Well’ campaign highlights how simple adjustments can make a big difference to people with learning disabilities and follows extensive research involving people who have a learning disability, healthcare professionals, hospital trusts and universities teaching medical and nursing students. Mencap are creating lots of supportive resources and have published insightful and powerful patient stories with the aim of transforming how the National Health Services (NHS) treats people with a learning disability in hospital.
Chief Operating Officer and Interim Director of Nursing, Janelle Holmes, introduced a staff engagement session, which was facilitated by the Chief Executive of Wirral Mencap, Chloe Harvey. The session highlighted the importance of making sure that the needs of patients with learning disabilities are understood and valued, making reasonable adjustments where needed, communicating effectively and involving them and their family in decisions about their care.
Afterwards Wirral University Teaching Hospital (WUTH) staff and representatives from Mencap were available at Arrowe Park Hospital’s Information Bank alongside people with learning disabilities and their family members who talked to colleagues about what was important to them.
As a Trust, we are committed to making sure that people with learning disabilities have equitable access to all of our services. We are currently reviewing resources to ensure this happens but to make a real difference, it’s important that everyone who works for the Trust understands the contribution that they can personally make to this important agenda. You find out more about the ‘Treat me Well’ campaign and read some of Mencap’s patient stories here: http://bit.ly/2BvyF2Z