King’s College, London, has published its latest LeDeR report into the avoidable deaths of people with learning disabilities.
The 2022 LeDeR report, which seeks to investigate and learn from the avoidable deaths of people with a learning disability in England, established a number of things:
- Researchers found that there has been gentle but continuous improvement in the median age of death for people with a learning disability in 2022.
- The team also found a drop in the number of avoidable deaths since 2021 – 42% of deaths were deemed “avoidable” for people with a learning disability in 2022 compared to 50% in 2021.
- In 2022, 94% of individuals with a learning disability who died were recorded as White, with 3% as Asian or Asian British, and 2% as Black.
- However, people from minority ethnic groups had a higher risk of dying at a younger age compared to White counterparts.
View some of the key findings here.
View the full report here.
In conjunction with the main LeDeR report, the NHS has also produced the NHS: LeDeR Action from learning report, which identifies some of the work across the NHS in the past year to address the findings from LeDeR reviews, improve care and prevent premature mortality. The Action from learning report highlights:
- NHS commissioned the NHS Race and Health Observatory report,‘We Deserve Better’ to help understand the reasons behind health inequalities faced by people with a learning disability from minority ethnic background.
- The NHS focus on improving the ethnicity recording for people with a learning disability across NHS and care providers – with greater emphasis on recording ethnicity in Health Actions Plans.
- Focused LeDeR reviews conducted for deaths of people with a learning disability from minority ethnic groups – every ICB has a named lead for minority ethnic groups on their LeDeR governance group.
- Intersectionality training: ‘Train the Trainer’ – to support LeDeR reviewers and local systems to consider how different aspects of identity like race and culture can intersect with having a learning disability and increase health equality.
- Encourage greater local initiatives to improve healthcare access and experiences for minority ethnic groups.
- Anti-racism initiative: ‘Equal Treatment’ project – funded by NHS and led by Learning Disability England: awareness raising seminars and training for self-advocates and organisations supporting people with a learning disability.
- Leadership training by Learning Disability England – NHS England funded a project and survey by Learning Disability England to assess leadership training opportunities for minority ethnic people with learning disabilities or who are autistic.
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Learning from Lives and Deaths – people with a learning disability and autistic people (LeDeR)
The LeDeR (Learning Disabilities Mortality Review) programme was established in 2017 and is funded by NHS England. Its main goals are to improve healthcare and reduce health inequalities for people with learning disabilities and autistic people, as well as prevent early deaths among these groups.
The programme reviews the lives and deaths of people with learning disabilities and autistic people who died in England. It publishes annual reports summarising findings. The 2021 and 2022 LeDeR reports were produced through a collaboration between researchers at King’s College London and academic partners at the University of Central Lancashire and Kingston University London.
The key focus areas are identifying common themes and making recommendations to improve care and reduce premature mortality based on the reviews of the lives and deaths of people with learning disabilities and autistic people.
