兔子先生

People with learning disabilities have told us they want access to employment opportunities [7]. In addition, rates of employment across the learning disabilities community remains low at 3.2% [10].

There is a need to ensure there is clear and accessible community infrastructure to support people with learning disabilities to access and stay in employment. This includes ensuring the offer is accessible across both children's and adult's services. There is an employment subgroup in South Tyneside who are actively mapping the employment offer for people with learning disabilities.

In addition, data indicates that 2.9% of people with a learning disability own their own property [10]. People with learning disabilities have highlighted how there is a lack of support for people with learning disabilities to own their own home [7]. Moving forward, an ambition of the 兔子先生 is to explore more opportunities for people with learning disabilities and / or autism to live as independently as possible. One option includes Shared Ownership Schemes, which have been set up in other parts of the UK but are yet to have a substantial footprint in the North East of England.

Shared ownership schemes have been established as a low-cost home ownership option for people of modest incomes for many years. [22] is a similar government-backed shared ownership scheme specifically for people with a long-term disability to share in the ownership of their home with a housing association.

South Tyneside has residential respite services across children and adults, as well as access to day services and shared lives. However, people with learning disabilities have told us they want more access to respite in South Tyneside [7]. There is a need to review the wider respite model in South Tyneside to ensure it suits a variety of need, as well as ensuring the offer is clearly communicated.

The 2022 LeDeR report identified that 41% of avoidable deaths were from a mental health condition [9]. A learning review published by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) also identified an increase in people with learning disabilities experiencing anxiety and depression due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the loss of contact with friends, daily activities and routines [23]. In addition, the local need identifies that 22% of people with a learning disability have anxiety disorder [10]. People with learning disabilities have also identified mental health support as an area of need [7]. There is a need to ensure the mental health offer for people with learning disabilities is clear and accessible, particularly around lower-level mental health. A working group has been established to review this. In addition, South Tyneside has the Quality Checker service who employs people with learning disabilities to look at the accessibility of health services. The long-term aspiration of this contract is to extend the offer more broadly into other Primary and Secondary care services.

The number of people with a learning disability from ethnic minorities is small compared to the wider South Tyneside learning disabilities population, with 84% of the population identifying as British or Mixed British, Non-consensus White or White British [14]. There is a need to understand the trends, risks and experiences of people with learning disabilities from ethnic minorities in South Tyneside. This is national trend highlighted in the 2022 LeDeR report where it was difficult to fully understand the trends in avoidable deaths of people from ethnic minorities due to the small sample size [9].

The Down Syndrome Act 2022 is a key piece of legislation which mandates that relevant authorities meet the needs of people with Down Syndrome [24]. Whilst Down's Syndrome is a genetic condition and not considered a learning disability, people with Down's Syndrome will have some level of a learning disability [25]. The legislation defines 'relevant authorities' under four key areas [24]:

• National Health Service
• Social Care
• Housing
• Education and Youth Offending

Due to the impact of the legislation, there is a need to ensure that services in South Tyneside can meet the needs of people with Down's Syndrome.

In September 2023, the Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag (RADF) was included as part of the Information Standards Notice (ISN) [26]. Under the Equality Act 2010, organisations have a legal duty to make changes to their approach and provision, called reasonable adjustments, to ensure that services are as accessible to people with learning disabilities as they are to everyone else.

The RADF aims to ensure that health and care professionals can record, share, view, and review details of the reasonable adjustments that an individual may need. This includes [27]:

• Identify people who need reasonable adjustments when accessing services, including people with learning disabilities.
• Identify and share the adjustments needed to ensure that care and support can proceed positively for that person.
• Ensure that the information is presented consistently and is accessible wherever and whenever the person seeks care.
• Promote tailored and personalised care by identifying and updating reasonable adjustments, shared via the RADF, in conjunction with the wishes of the person and their carer.

As the RADF applies to all health and publicly funded social care, there is a need to ensure implementation and compliance across learning disabilities services in South Tyneside, with full conformance being advised by the 30 June 2024 [27].