Care and support of people growing older with learning disabilities

NICE has written advice about care and support for people with learning disabilities as they grow older.

The advice is for everyone who works with people with learning disabilities, and their families and carers.

We've produced an EasyRead version of our advice.

If you have a learning disability you may want to look at this with support from a family member, friend or carer.

View the EasyRead version

The advice is about:

• helping you get support from services like health, housing and social care
• making sure your views come first
• involving everyone who supports you
• helping you look after your health as you get older
• helping you prepare for the future
• making sure staff have the right skills to support you.

This video also explains what NICE has said.

We want this advice to help people get the best care and support. It will help staff meet your changing needs as you grow older.

There is lots of advice in the guideline about care and support. NICE has also worked with experts to agree the 5 things that services could do to make the most difference to people’s care. This is called a quality standard.

• You are always listened to when staff check about your care needs. You should always be able to say what you need, what things you like and what you want from your life.
• You have 1 person that you can contact if you have questions or need help from different services.
• You are supported to talk about how your life and needs may change as you get older, and to make plans for those changes.
• You have a detailed health check up every year.
• If you need to go into hospital, you can meet the people who will look after you before you go so you can get to know each other.