General Hospital Care for People with Learning Disabilities is a comprehensive resource for those health professionals in a general hospital setting who may come into contact with people with learning disabilities. The book explores the nature of learning disabilities and highlights specific health care needs. It takes the reader through all the key factors in the healthcare process, through pre-admission assessment, care planning, intervention and treatment and liaison and discharge planning while highlighting key areas of healthcare need at each stage.The Department of Health, the National Health Service Executive and Mencap have all reported that people with learning disabilities have increased health needs to the general population, yet these needs are often poorly met and people experience difficulties in accessing appropriate services. This is a timely and accessible resource for healthcare professionals in need of a general introduction to caring for people with a learning disability.Relevant to the care of both children and adults with a learning disabilityUse of case studies to illustrate examples of situations explored in the main textFocuses on key areas of communication, understanding behavior and the often difficult area of consent
Author(s): Lynn Hannon, Julie Clift
Edition: 1
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Year: 2010
Language: English
Pages: 265
General Hospital Care for People with
Learning Disabilities......Page 5
Contents......Page 7
Preface......Page 9
Acknowledgements......Page 11
Introduction......Page 13
Definitions and causes of a learning disability......Page 14
How to establish if your patient has a learning disability......Page 21
Perceptions and attitudes towards people with a learning disability......Page 22
Health needs of people with a learning disability......Page 27
Family/carer’s needs......Page 42
Introduction to person-centred approaches......Page 44
Conclusion......Page 47
References......Page 50
Introduction......Page 52
The patient journey......Page 53
Pre-admission......Page 65
Care planning and developing care pathways......Page 80
Intervention and treatment......Page 83
Liaison and discharge planning......Page 90
Conclusion......Page 92
References......Page 95
Introduction......Page 97
What is communication?......Page 98
Models of communication – verbal and non-verbal......Page 102
Developing relationships with people with a learning disability......Page 105
Communicating with people with a learning disability......Page 110
Tools to aid communication......Page 121
Helping people with learning disabilities to make choices......Page 130
Communicating with family and carers......Page 135
Conclusion......Page 136
References......Page 137
Introduction......Page 139
What do we mean when we say a person displays challenging behaviour?......Page 140
What could different behaviours mean?......Page 142
How hospital admission can affect individual behaviour and ways of overcoming this......Page 147
How to respond to behaviour in health care situations......Page 149
The use of behavioural indicators in the assessment of pain......Page 164
Conclusion......Page 174
References......Page 177
What do we mean by consent?......Page 179
Ethical decision making......Page 181
The law on consent and capacity to consent (in England and Wales)......Page 184
Defining capacity......Page 189
Obtaining consent......Page 193
Advocacy and empowerment......Page 200
Planning for future care......Page 201
What to do when consent is refused......Page 202
Record keeping......Page 205
Conclusion......Page 206
References......Page 209
Health care ethics and professional accountability......Page 210
Safeguarding children and vulnerable adults......Page 220
Cost......Page 225
Values and beliefs......Page 226
Political issues affecting service provision in both learning disability and secondary care services......Page 229
Interdisciplinary approaches and partnership working......Page 236
Where do we go from here?......Page 242
Conclusion......Page 244
References......Page 249
Useful Websites and Contacts......Page 251
Index......Page 258
