Healthy Lives Sub Group

What we do

Click here to see a presentation that was given to the Learning Disabilities Providers' Forum in April of 2009 about the Healthy Lives work.

The Healthy Lives group does work to make sure that people with learning disabilities have the same access to health services as everyone else in Brighton & Hove. Health services are things like doctors’ surgeries, hospitals, pharmacies (or chemists), and dentists.

The people in the Healthy Lives group are from local learning disability services, and local health services.

Important reports like ‘Death By Indifference’ and ‘Health Care For All’ help us to think about what work we need to do. We want to make sure people with learning disabilities are given the right support to be as healthy as possible.

These are some of the things we are working on now:

• Encouraging doctors to do health checks and health action plans for people with learning disabilities
• Giving training to doctors and people who work in doctors surgeries to help them give a good service to people
• Working with local hospitals to help the people that work there to get better at supporting people with learning disabilities
• Working with local mental health services to make sure people with learning disabilities get the right support from the right place
• Working with staff and family carers so they can support people to be healthy

These are some of the things we want to work on in the future:

• Do more of the things we are doing already!
• Look at what information about health and being healthy is available for people with learning disabilities and the people who might help to look after them
• Get better information about people with learning disabilities and their health so we can plan what help and services people might need
• Do more training about learning disabilities with health services like pharmacies, stop smoking and sexual health services

We Did a Big Health Check

The Big Health Check in November 2009 was part of our Health Self Assessment Framework and Annual Health Check Up

All the different people and groups who work in health services work together to make those services better for people with Learning Disabilities.

In the Big Health Check we checked on 4 “Top Targets”.  These are:

1. Make sure campus homes are closed by 2010 and that people who lived in long stay hospitals have all moved

2. Make sure people with learning disabilities can use the same health services, and get as good a service, as everyone else

3. Make sure people are safe in our health services and that the service is learning from mistakes in the past

4. Make sure we are doing the things that Valuing People Now says will help people’s health

You can read the Brighton & Hove Big Health Check report Jan 2010 to find out how we do locally

Learning Disability Liaison Nursing Team

Linda Moore, Alice Ellis and Helen Howell are the three Liaison Nurses for people with Learning Disabilities. They work with all Brighton and Sussex University sites including the Royal Sussex County Hospital and the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath.

The Learning Disability Liaison Team provide active support, education and advice for professionals, acute hospital staff, the patient and their family during all types of hospital visits including planning for hospital admissions, outpatient appointments, planned surgery and A+ E admissions. click here to read the Liason Team leaflet.

The Team are based on the BSUH site at Southpoint, 8 Paston Place

Telephone: 01273 696955 ext. 4975.

Their office hours are Mon-Fri 8.30-4.30.

Valuing People Now mentions Brighton & Hove

Valuing People Now was released by the Department of Health on 19th January. On page 74 Brighton & Hove’s Liaison Nurses are mentioned as an example of good practice:

Learning Disability Development Fund

This year (April 2010 to March 2011) our area of work has been given £18,785 from the Partnership Board's Learning Disability Development Fund. We want to use the money to improve health for people with learning disabilities in the city.

Recently Valuing People asked us to say how well we are doing with improving health. We told them what we have done.  We wrote an action plan for the future. The LDDF money will be used to help this plan happen.

There are 3 parts of the action plan we want to spend the money on. These are 3 quite big areas. There are lots of different types of work that people might want to do.

We are also happy to look at bids from people who think they can do some work to helping people with learning disabilities have healthier lives. These don’t have to be linked to the 3 areas.

You must send your bid to Sandra Edwards by 1st June 2010

Sandra Edwards, 86 Denmark Villas, Hove, BN3 3TY 
Sandra.edwards@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Click here for more information

Click here for the bid form

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This is how we spent last year's money: Health Action Plan Project.

Here is our project's first report: Aug 2009 - Health Action Planning report

Here is the report from the previous year's project: 2008-09 - Health Action Plans

Healthy Lives Group Membership

Healthy Lives Group Chair and Representative to the Partnership Board:

Cath Scott - Community Nurse Manager

Sub Group members:

• Chris Bland - Deputy Director Grace Eyre Foundation
• Chris Storey - Southdown Housing Association
• Natalie Winterton - Health Facilitator, Community Learning Disability Team
• Jo Lee - Senior Physiotherapist, CLDT
• Alistair Hill - Consultant in Public Health from Brighton & Hove City Primary Care Trust
• Ian Metherell - Speak Out