Facilitating adjustments: evaluating a series of reasonable adjustments workshops for mainstream healthcare professionals

Introduction: Having experienced several nationally reported clinical incidents East Kent Hospitals (EKH) developed data that indicated that people with Intellectual Disability (ID) were at greater risk of being admitted via A&E, and repeatedly admitting, compared to the general population. Health Education England supported EKH to undertake workshops for doctors and other local non -ID specialist professionals on making adjustments for people with ID. Methods: A team of three experts by experience - including people with ID and family carers- and three ID Nurses were employed to develop and co-facilitate a series of workshops. Practice Development methods such as Fourth Generation Evaluation were employed and included in the learning outcomes and educational methods. Results: Nine workshops were held over a two years; 120 participants attended, only 10% had a medical background. A thematic analysis of participant‘s data indicated an emerging concept, preparedness. Participants wished to be better prepared to make adjustments before the patient‘s arrival. Implications: This evaluation is prescient as UK parliament is due to consult on education for all healthcare professionals on ID in light of #Oliverscampaign. It is recommended that responsibility for ID education resides with service providers, employing local experts, reflecting local data, and be experiential with a work-based project component. Local informatics systems ought to flag and alert staff of people with learning disabilities using services.