Annual health checks and help from your doctor's surgery (GP) | Learning disabilities

• Learning disability register
• Reasonable adjustments and accessible information
• Annual health check
• Flu Vaccines
• If your behaviour can harm you or others
• If you will not allow health investigations or blood to be taken for testing

Learning disability register

If you have a learning disability, your GP should put you on the learning disability register.

If you are on the learning disability register, you get additional support from your GP.
 

• Mencap have information in different languages, easy read guides, and videos, including the difference between a learning difficulty and a learning disability.

Reasonable adjustments and accessible information

It is important that your GP knows all about you.

GPs can add information to your record, so they understand the best ways to talk to you and to help you get the health care you need. This is called reasonable adjustments.

Complete this form and give it to your GP to make sure they know what you need: reasonable adjustments and accessible information form (DOC, 1.72mb).

For more information about reasonable adjustments and why they are important:

• read this easy read guide or
• watch this rap music video by the Purple All-Stars.

Annual health check

If you have a learning disability and you are aged 14 or over, your GP will offer you an annual health check. 

Having a yearly health check means you're less likely to get seriously sick or die from things that can be prevented.

If you’re under 25 years old, visit our annual health checks page on the SEND Local Offer.

 
To find out what an annual health check is, who it is for and why it is important:

• watch this video from the Purple All-Stars or
• visit the Mencap website - they have a video and an easy read guide.

"My annual health check has helped find health problems I didn’t know I had. I now look after my own health better because of all the things that we talk about."

Gavin Howcroft, Expert by Experience Advisor

Flu Vaccines

If you are on your GP surgeries learning disability register you should be offered the flu vaccine. Here is some information about why flu vaccine is important

• Protect yourself from flu
• Video - Flu vaccinations for people with a learning disability
• Video - Flu vaccinations for carers of people with a learning disability

If your behaviour can harm you or others

It is important to make a plan with your GP if you sometimes:

• communicate your frustration, fear, refusal or distress with behaviour that can harm you or others
• struggle to understand why health treatments are important.

With a plan, your GP can avoid putting you in situations that cause you to show these behaviours. That way, you will get the healthcare you need.
 

If you will not allow health investigations or blood to be taken for testing

Some people don’t like health investigations or blood tests and will move their arm so blood cannot be taken safely. If that happens, your doctor and the people who support you should check that you understand why the investigation or blood is being taken. They should also explain what might happen to your health if this is not done. They can ask the  Community Learning Disability Nurses to help.

For more information about health investigatiosn and blood tests:

• Mencap have an easy read guide about blood tests.
• See the documents that your doctor's surgery and the learning disability nurses will use.