Staff from Daisy Hill and Craigavon Area Hospitals have taken part in a morning of learning disability awareness training.
It was organised as part of the Southern Trust’s drive to promote Mencap’s ‘Treat Me Well’ campaign which aims to improve the experience of people with a learning disability in hospitals.
Nursing, social work and pharmacy staff along with a number of allied health professionals, took part in the session to increase their awareness of how to better meet the needs of people with a learning disability whilst in their care.
Specialists from the Trust’s Learning Disability Team, Mencap and the Public Health Agency shared their expertise with hospital colleagues; a service user and two carers gave their perspective of bringing an adult with a learning disability to hospital, and speech and language therapists were on hand to teach some Makaton signs.
Sinead Hughes, Promoting Wellbeing Specialist Lead, who organised the training, said: “We want to make sure that everyone using our services receives the best possible care and recognise that in many cases, some very simple adjustments like – better communication, taking more time and giving clearer information, can make a huge difference to the experience of a person with a learning disability.”
Trudy Reid, Head of Acute Governance for the Southern Trust added: “We have a great team of compassionate professionals throughout our hospitals and are delighted that so many staff attended today’s event to explore how they can continue to improve their practice to ensure that they are always giving this group of patients and their carers the best possible experience.”
For more info visit: https://www.mencap.org.uk/get-involved/campaign-mencap/current-campaigns/treat-me-well
