The team tackling health inequalities faced by people with learning disabilities

Following the recent publication of the latest LeDeR Report, find out more about a small team making a big impact on tackling health inequalities faced by people with learning disabilities.

People with learning disabilities (LD) face severe health inequalities and risk dying up to 20 years earlier than the general population, often from avoidable causes. They are also more likely to live in poorer health and live with a long-term health condition.

In Leeds it estimated there are up to 12,000 people living with a learning disability. This is far more than the 4,500 that are known to services, and many people have no formal diagnosis and often live without support.

They are also more likely to live in the more deprived areas of the city and with lower incomes, are therefore more likely to experience a range of associated disadvantages as a result.

The Trust’s Health Facilitation and Involvement Team (HFIT) is a small team making a big impact on tackling these health inequalities by working collaboratively with partners across the local health and care system.

The latest LeDeR report, published in July 2026, provides a benchmark which measures the mortality rates of people with a learning disability and through its reviews of those deaths helps us learn about the experiences that people have of receiving healthcare.

The HFIT attends the review meeting carried out across West Yorkshire to understand what lessons can be learned from both the positive experiences people had, and from any that could have been better.

“We then ensure this learning is carried through out governance processes,” said Julie Royle-Evatt (pictured) who leads the HFIT. “And not just in specialist mental health services, but across our Trust, so we can improve ways of working.

“We have developed several initiatives as a result of the recommendations from these learning from death reviews including dysphagia training, improved epilepsy monitoring, and improved consent processes.

“We also introduced a Health Advisory Group which looks to break down the barriers for someone with an LD might face when trying to access healthcare.

“As our team includes people with lived experience, we can routinely ask ‘How can things be improved from your perspective?’ We can then work together with other services to improve access and experience for people with LD.”

Co-produced health information is available on the GetCheckedOut website Get checked out – Learning Disability Service for anyone to access free of charge.

“As a Trust specialising in learning disability care, we must lead the way in learning from experience including the deaths of people with a learning disability and learning in an accessible and meaning way,” adds Julie.

If any team would like to know more about how to make health accessible for people with a learning disability, please contact the Health Facilitation and Involvement team on Getcheckedout.lypft@nhs.net or ring 0113 85 55049.

 

Photo credit: LeDeR Report 2024 (published July 2026).

Page last updated: 6th Aug 2026 10:27am