Learning Disability Acute Advisory Service

The Northern Trust has a Learning Disability Acute Advisory Service which aims to provide advice and support to hospital staff on the needs of people with a learning disability, helping to improve their healthcare experience as they access hospital services.

HSC Hospital Passport for people with learning disabilities

The HSC Hospital Passport is an important tool that can be held in ward or department, providing vital information about a person with a learning disability. It can help our staff understand the least stressful ways to interact with that person.

The hospital passport can hold important personal information, details of the key people caring or providing support to them, medical conditions, tips on how to provide care, how to keep them safe, what the person likes to eat, support they need in terms of eating and drinking, personal care, moving and handling, and how they communicate.

At a glance, any member of the medical team will be able to see the person’s medical history and understand the best way to respond to their needs.

Find out more – watch the HSC Hospital Passport video on YouTube.

Easy Read material

The Northern Trust provides easy read material to help people with learning disabilities or with literacy needs understand key information.

Our easy read material tells people what they need to know. It includes main information only, uses easy words and short and simple sentences.

The material also includes big, clear pictures, or symbols to show what the words mean.

Our services will provide easy read material, where required.

The guides are an important tool to help us support people with a learning disability understand unfamiliar situations and experiences.