Health and social care access for adults with learning disabilities across the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020

Health and social care access for adults with learning disabilities across the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 Samantha Flynn, Chris Hatton Tizard Learning Disability Review, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.- This paper aims to present data about access to health and social care services during the COVID-19 pandemic for adults with learning disabilities across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Data were collected directly from 621 adults with learning disabilities and through separate proxy reports by family carers and paid support staff of another 378 adults with learning disabilities. The data were collected between December 2020 and February 2021 and concerned the use of health and social care services since the start of the first COVID-19 national lockdown in March 2020. Access to and use of health and social care services significantly reduced for adults with learning disabilities across the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic between March 2020 and February 2021, with many people not receiving any services at all during that period. Similar patterns were seen across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. However, data suggest some variations between countries for some services. Future pandemic planning must ensure that access to these essential services is not completely lost for adults with learning disabilities and their family carers, as it was in some cases during the COVID-19 pandemic i...
Source: Tizard Learning Disability Review - Category: Disability Authors: Source Type: research