One from the heart for people with a learning disability

Health inequalities are a major concern of the UK government which provides a good opportunity to look at the equity of access to health services for people with learning disabilities. To investigate how the whole system of care can be improved, this article will focus on a common problem that spans both primary and secondary care: heart disease. It uses access to a potentially life-saving procedure, the coronary artery bypass graft, as an indicator of equity. Opportunities can arise for nurses to overcome inequality for their clients, e.g. through nursing involvement in commissioning by primary care groups.