Respiratory disease (in particular pneumonia) is one of the leading causes of avoidable deaths for people with a learning disability. It can also lead to an increased likelihood of being admitted to hospital, followed by longer stays and re-admissions.
The ‘Keeping My Chest Healthy’ is a respiratory pathway and online digital hub to help reduce the number of hospital admissions (caused by chest infections) amongst people with a learning disability.
The project has been developed by Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust’s learning disabilities team and a multi-disciplinary team of dieticians, speech and language therapists, nurses, physiotherapists, pharmacists, dental and oral health professionals. It aims to reduce the barriers for people with a learning disability and their carers, in accessing healthcare and important health information to help prevent respiratory illness.
Developing a digital resource accessible to patients and clinicians
The ‘Keeping My Chest Healthy’ digital hub contains lots of health advice for people with a learning disability and their carers on how they can stay healthy as well as triggers on a person’s respiratory health and signs that could mean someone is unwell.
The site has been co-produced with lived experience service users, carers and representatives from clinical leads to support them. It also has a dedicated section for clinicians which contains clinical tools and CPD training modules.
Ensuring information is accessible to meet the needs of different communities
The site is written in plain English, with lots of ‘easy read’ guidance and is translatable into different community languages. One carer positively reported that ‘It is good to be able to show the rest of the family the Urdu videos’.
Key impacts
The ‘Keeping My Chest Healthy’ project has had the following impacts:
- A 54% reduction in chest infections and a 70% reduction in hospital admissions in the twelve months since its introduction.
- Improved health outcomes: Prior to the roll out, one service user had been admitted to hospital on five separate occasions for aspiration pneumonia. In the 12 months post roll out, the service user had not experienced any chest infections.
- A well-used and effective resource: The hub remains well used by service users, their carers and other health professionals.
The team was awarded the Learning Disabilities Initiative of the Year in the 2024 HSJ Patient Safety Awards. They are now exploring how the digital hub could be used by other Trusts across the country.
Thank you to colleagues at Bradford District Care Trust for sharing their story. You can view more inequality action stories from our workforce here.
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