Our Treat me well campaign is all about tackling the issue of people with learning disabilities having much lower life expectancies than people without learning disabilities.
According to the 2018 Learning Disability Mortality Review (LeDeR), on average, men with a learning disability die 23 years younger, and women 27 years younger than the wider population.
One of the main reasons for this is that people with learning disabilities are unable to access healthcare.
Communication difficulties are a major cause of this problem.
This is why we have made promoting health passports across Harrow a primary focus of our campaign. Health passports make a person’s visits to the hospital or GP easier because they contain your medical information which helps the doctor or nurse treat you as best as they can.
We have raised awareness throughout the local community and online, at events, meetings with social care providers, residential care homes and through our partner organisations.
We have also created this informative video about the health passport:
We were recognised for our efforts by Royal Mencap who selected us as finalists for the Treat me well Group of the Year Award at the national Treat me well Activist of the Year Awards, 2019.
The newest version of the health passport was introduced by the learning disability nurse for North West London Chloe Donovan at the end of 2018.
The health passport helps people with learning disabilities to be more independent and comfortable when visiting the hospital or GP.
Health passports make your visits to the hospital or GP easier because they contain your medical information which helps the doctor or nurse treat you as best as they can.
You should update your health passport every 6 months.
Anyone can help you to complete your health passport such as your carer, parent or guardian.
The new health passport is colour coded like a traffic light:
- The red part is for things the hospital or GP must know about you.
- The yellow part is for things that are important to you.
- The green part is things that you like or dislike.
You can download your own health passport by clicking here
