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Background: People with learning disabilities experience health and social inequalities, and research that could improve health services may not be implemented in real‐life settings. Building stakeholder networks that can share and implement research findings may address this. This paper presents a framework for building a stakeholder network that maximises the likelihood of research recommendations being implemented in practice. This was developed as part of the 'Making Positive Moves' (MPM) study, which explores the experiences of people with learning disabilities following discharge from a residential stay within a hospital inpatient setting. Methods: We reviewed the literature on existing theoretical frameworks to support the development of a model for dissemination of the MPM findings. Stakeholder categories were identified through consultation with the MPM researchers, experts by experience and the steering group and a hub and spoke model to represent all stakeholder categories was created. These categories include person moving; family of the person moving; specialist schools; social care; care providers; regulators; third sector organisations; policy organisations; academic community; and NHS professionals. After establishing the categories, we consulted with people with learning disabilities and other stakeholders and conducted online searches to create a stakeholder database. Through information gathering and direct contact with stakeholders, we assessed levels of interest, power and engagement to determine which stakeholders to prioritise in our dissemination activities. The Stakeholder Wheel was created to present the data captured within the database and engagement profiles in an illustrative way. Findings: We use two stakeholder sub‐categories, user‐led organisations and care providers, to demonstrate the methodological approach. The examples illustrate how a scoring system helped us to identify high‐priority stakeholders who we then contacted to collaborate within developing our dissemination strategy to maximise the impact of the MPM research findings. Conclusions: We developed a framework to map stakeholders for the MPM study and enable targeted dissemination to increase the impact of the research. This approach has the potential to reduce health inequalities among people with learning disabilities by increasing the awareness of and ability to implement evidence‐based recommendations in real‐life settings. The stakeholder mapping framework could be applied to research projects associated with learning disabilities to bridge the gap between research and practice and reduce health inequalities. Accessible Summary: People with learning disabilities experience unfair disadvantages relating to their health. These are known as health and social inequalities.Findings from research projects can help improve health and social care for people with learning disabilities, but only if people know about and are able to apply the research recommendations.Finding people and organisations who can make use of the research findings (known as stakeholders) is an important first step in sharing research. Working with stakeholders to think about how they use the findings to change practice can improve care and services.We have been doing this for one research project called Making Positive Moves and it has helped us plan how to share our findings. Our approach could be used by other researchers to make it more likely that their research findings will be used to make a difference in the lives of people with learning disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Youth with intellectual disabilities experiencing homelessness are invisible within multiple service sectors. We know little about their experiences of homelessness, or the impacts of such on the social and physical health and well‐being. Methods: We used quantitative and qualitative methods to measure prevalence and learn from key informants and homeless youth with intellectual disabilities about factors leading to and sustaining homelessness, and the implications of such on their social, physical, and mental health and well‐being. The project involved seven co‐researchers with intellectual disabilities and experience of youth homelessness in research design, data collection, analysis, and dissemination. We created Forum Theatre scenes that creatively represent the findings of the project. In this paper we share one of those scenes, as well as the recommendations three co‐researchers with intellectual disabilities have for improving support to homeless youth with intellectual disabilities. Findings: Lack of awareness of and about homeless youth with intellectual disabilities, combined with siloed ways of working by involved sectors, results in significant disadvantage and health inequities for youth. Also revealed was the likelihood this would continue given existing obstacles to accessing appropriate housing and supports to exit homelessness. Conclusion: Services providers, policy makers and representatives of the involved sectors need to recognize and acknowledge homeless youth with intellectual disabilities and take responsibility for learning and working together to develop integrated and responsive approaches to effectively supporting them. Accessible Summaries: Many youths with intellectual disabilities are homeless, but we do not know very much about them. We do not know how they became homeless, what their lives are like when they are homeless or how being homeless affects their health.The (name withheld) research project included academic researchers and co‐researchers with intellectual disabilities, who had experience of being homeless. They spoke to service providers and to homeless youth without intellectual disabilities about these things.They learned that most homeless youth with intellectual disabilities have had very difficult lives. They face many challenges every day. They don't have access to health care, mental health supports, food and nutrition or physical safety. Attending school or having a job is harder to do when you are homeless.Many different services are involved in the lives of people with intellectual disabilities who are homeless. However, these services don't know about each other or work together to support homeless youth with intellectual disabilities.Service providers, governments and policy makers need to take responsibility to learn about the lives of homeless youth with intellectual disabilities. They must work together, and with homeless youth with intellectual disabilities, to develop better supports for this group of youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We now have sufficient evidence demonstrating inequalities in specific avoidable causes of death for adults with intellectual disability compared to their peers without intellectual disability. Apart from covid‐19, the largest differentials that disadvantage people with intellectual disability are in relation to pneumonia, aspiration pneumonia, epilepsy, cerebrovascular disease, ischaemic heart disease, deep vein thrombosis, diabetes and sepsis. The aim of this systematic review is to report on strategies at the individual, population or policy levels aimed at preventing these conditions that are applicable to adults with intellectual disability and that have been based on or recommended by research. Methods: Systematic review of PUBMED, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsychInfo, Social Care Online, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS), Web of Science, Scopus, Overton, the Cochrane Library and Google Scholar databases was carried out. Searches were completed on 30 June 2023. Quantitative, qualitative and mixed‐methods research; systematic, scoping or evidence‐based reviews; and audit and reports of mortality reviews were included. Publications included in the review were about preventing the eight potentially avoidable causes of death. Findings: Ninety‐four papers were included in the review (9 in relation to pneumonia; 11 for aspiration pneumonia; 18 for sudden unexpected death in epilepsy; 7 for cerebrovascular disease; 8 for ischaemic heart disease; 4 for deep vein thrombosis; 31 for diabetes; 6 for sepsis). The eight most frequently occurring potentially avoidable causes of death in people with intellectual disability are very different medical conditions, but they shared striking similarities in how they could be prevented. The literature overwhelmingly implicated the need to make lifestyle changes to address obesity, lack of exercise and poor nutrition, and to have regular medical reviews. In addition, 'whole‐population' approaches are required that look beyond the individual to the social determinants of health. Conclusions: We found little peer‐reviewed evidence specifically about preventing these conditions in people with intellectual disability. However, most of the literature about preventative strategies pertaining to the general population was applicable to people with intellectual disability, albeit that some 'reasonable adjustments' would be required. Accessible Summaries: People with intellectual disability die from some illnesses that could be avoided. This is a bigger problem in people with intellectual disability than in people without intellectual disability.We searched for evidence about what we could do to prevent these illnesses.We found that although the most common illnesses are very different, there are things we can do that will prevent them. Some things will prevent a few illnesses.The best things that we can do are to eat a healthy diet with lots of fruit and vegetables, to do lots of exercise and to lose weight if we are overweight. Changing our lifestyle like this can make a big difference to how long we live.The government also needs to do things, like making sure that healthy food is easy to get and that there are safe places to exercise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: People with learning disabilities are often left behind and ostracised in life, education, employment and in research. This article describes the importance and value that people with learning disabilities can bring when participating in co‐production and lived experience research. The article reports on the inequalities and barriers that people living with learning disabilities have in accessing health and social care services and hospitals and makes recommendations for improving services and people's experiences of services. The intertwining of subject (inequalities and barriers of access) and process (lived experience research and co‐production) leads to more comprehensive knowledge and understanding of learning disabilities. Methods: Co‐production events were held with people with learning disabilities, facilitated by the co‐author (Tom Kerridge). Tom and a service user researcher (Ben Gray) with Asperger's syndrome and schizophrenia thematised transcripts and made recommendations, in Ben's case with the insight of lived experience of learning disabilities and mental health problems. Findings: A series of recommendations are made based on the insight of a lived experience perspective. For example: to have a grass roots learning disabilities champion, lived experience peer mentors and supporters, training via a film made by people with learning disabilities, the involvement of Learning Disabilities Research Ambassadors to conduct phase two of the research as well as other recommendations. Conclusions: Lived experience research and co‐production are at the heart and centre of contemporary research in health and social care. Participation can change feelings of exclusion and stigma into feelings of being valued, accepted and being able to make a difference. Accessible summary: People with learning disabilities and mental health problems (like Ben), can feel left behind, like they do not fit in, do not belong and that their chances in life are limited.People can feel that they do not matter, have no voice or say, and that they are forgotten. People with learning disabilities, in Ben's own personal experience, can feel not listened to, looked down on and can face bullying.This paper is about the value that people living with learning disabilities can bring to research and help make health and social care services better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessible summary: After the consultation with people with learning disabilities, the topic of health inequalities was chosen for the 2024 special issue.The lives of people with learning disabilities around the world was also of interest to people so we have made this the theme of this issue. There are papers from the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Belgium, Chile and Iceland.We also have papers about life in the COVID‐19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessible summary: The journal now has a statement on the website about respecting diversity, wanting to include different people and their perspectives, and standing alongside people with learning disabilities.We have done some research with people with learning disabilities about how they might contribute to reviewing papers. We will report on this soon.This issue of the journal has papers about community and well‐being for people with learning disabilities.The papers look at how we can help people who belong in communities. Some cover how people stayed connected during Covid lockdowns. Others focus on different ways of supporting people's mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessible summary: In the last issue of 2022 I reflect on the uncertainty we have been living with again this year. While the impact of Covid‐19 may be lessening, war and the cost of living are affecting us all.Following some research with people with learning disabilities about getting further involved in the journal more changes are on the way.I am busy consulting with people with learning disabilities about what the focus of the 2024 special issue of the journal should be.Meanwhile, this issue of the journal has papers on many topics including eating, mothering, having friendships, staying well and ageing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessible summary People with learning disabilities do not live as long as other people or as long as many should., Nationally, people with learning disabilities do not get as good help when they do get ill., This paper looks at work that was conducted in Lincolnshire to see how the health of people with learning disabilities compared to the rest of the population., The report recommended changes which could be made to make things better., Summary The NHS Constitution requires all NHS organisations to provide high-quality comprehensive services, based on clinical need, which do not discriminate between patients (DH 2010a). Together with its health and social care partners, the NHS also has a statutory duty of care to meet the needs of all patients with dignity and compassion. Recent evidence has revealed sharp failures in the NHS to meet these goals in relation to people with learning disabilities nationally. This article considers the well-established evidence that the latter group have worse health experiences and worse health outcomes than the population as a whole, which significantly contributes to marked inequalities both in morbidity and mortality. The public sector equality duty of the Equality Act 2010 imposes a statutory requirement on health and social care agencies to address such inequalities. This article draws on the first systematic health needs assessment ( HNA) of adults with learning disabilities in the county of Lincolnshire, established in 2011 to identify their health needs and make recommendations for improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessible summary • People with learning disabilities have more health needs than the general population, and those health needs are different and require more specialised services. There is evidence of poorer outcomes and less effective health interventions for people with learning disabilities in Scotland, and elsewhere. • Reducing health inequalities is currently a key priority for the Scottish Government and National Health Service (NHS) policy has encouraged patient involvement in healthcare planning and delivery. This article reports on an NHS initiative to involve people with learning disabilities as ‘expert patient’ reviewers in national review teams, looking at the quality of inpatient and community services for people with learning disabilities. All 15 Health Boards in Scotland were reviewed, using a set of quality indicators. Details of the planning and support arrangements are reported. The success of the initiative was evaluated. • This involvement of people with learning disabilities as reviewers of NHS services has tested traditional assumptions and challenged the power imbalance in patient-provider relationships. Recommendations are made for the future success of similar schemes. Reducing health inequalities is a key priority for the Scottish Government. Health authorities are expected to meet quality targets. The involvement of people with learning disabilities in health service review teams has been one of the initiatives used in by National Health Service Quality Improvement Scotland to empower patients and improve health services. This paper describes this initiative, how it was planned, and an evaluation by health staff, carers and people with learning disabilities. Recommendations are made to ensure the future success of this type of initiative in Scotland and elsewhere. This initiative was evaluated positively and tested traditional assumptions, challenging the power imbalance in patient-provider relationships. The theory and the practice of including people with learning disabilities as ‘expert patient’ reviewers are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]