Choices, rights and control: what service users expect from their healthcare services

Abstract

Choices, rights and control are aspects of healthcare that most take for granted. For many people with a learning disability, however, these are not a reality, with them being denied choice, their rights and control over the healthcare that they are given. Following on from the Mencap report Death by Indifference, which highlighted some of the shortfalls in the provision of healthcare for people with learning disability, it was the Royal College of Psychiatrist's Service User Group's intention to look into a more personalised account of experiences of accessing healthcare services. To do this, the group garnered the views of the pan-UK membership of the group, asking them about their experiences of healthcare. We wanted them to share both good and bad practice of receiving services, and also areas such as staff attitude and how much they were listened to. From the research and consultation, it was found that, in many instances, people with learning disability who access healthcare services are denied their choices in that they are not consulted on the type of care they should expect. This is specifically true for aspects such as medication. It was also found that people with learning disability can often be denied their rights, such as the right to be treated like an adult and not be patronised, the right to privacy and to be fully informed about making decisions. The third main theme to emerge from the group's work was that people with learning disability often feel they have little-to-no control over the services they receive from healthcare professionals. The findings are that, when people are consulted and fully informed of their healthcare, it leads to good practice and better outcomes. Healthcare professionals need to make the most basic reasonable adjustments to ensure that they cover everyone's needs.