We don’t look after people with learning difficulties well enough, particularly as they experience more health conditions such as epilepsy and dental problems.
They’re also at a higher risk of leading sedentary lives and becoming overweight, putting them more at risk of diabetes, heart issues and respiratory disease. Plus they’re more likely to be exposed to poverty, poor housing conditions, unemployment and other social causes of poor health.
Swansea University wellbeing researchers have found that health checks do improve survival rates of people with a learning disability. Their conclusions come from analysing the medical records of 26,954 people in Wales with a learning disability between 2005 and 2017.
