Celebrating Scottish Learning Disability Week in Glasgow

As part of Scottish Learning Disability week, from 8 to 12 September, Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP)’s South Learning Disability Team arranged several events. The week’s theme was ‘I am Here’ and staff encouraged service users, carers and families, as well as staff in our Learning Disability teams, to get involved and share their views.  

As it was also Falls Awareness week, the first event was a pop-up session within Carlton Day Centre. This provided an opportunity for patients and carers to engage with our Physiotherapy team staff and discuss falls prevention. Physiotherapy staff provided information posters, fall prevention packs and fall recording charts for carers. They also issued easy-read leaflets on falls, promoting physical activity, and gentle balance exercises.  Patients were also offered mini balance and gait assessments, walking aid assessments, and brief MOTs of walking aids currently in use. 

Laura McDonald, Physiotherapy Team Lead, South Adults Learning Disability Team said: “A key factor in falls prevention is opportunistic conversation and the pop-up allowed for this in a relaxed setting.  We hoped to promote awareness of falls risk within our learning disability population, and ensure our patients and carers know where to find us for support."

The next event was a conversation café held in our HSCP’s Castlemilk social work office.  Service users and their family or carers were invited along for coffee and cake with a range of activities provided by our HSCP’s Learning Disability staff team.  One of our service users, Tony was delighted to open the event by cutting a specially made cake. The event finished with karaoke, which staff and service users thoroughly enjoyed, with positive feedback from all.

A final event was held in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) with a stall in the main atrium displaying some advice on physiotherapy, Learning Disability Week publications and materials, and a range of communication supports. Hospital staff could take these away to support communication on the ward and within outpatient appointments, with patients with a learning disability.

Staff from the South Learning Disability team, Speech and Language Therapy and Nursing and Dietetics services spoke to hospital staff, patients and current patients who receive support from them.

Marie Brown, Service Manager, South Learning Disability Team stated: “Thanks to all the staff for their involvement, and for making service users, their families and carers so welcome at the events. We’ll take all feedback on board.”