Annual Health Checks are a way of regularly assessing the health needs of people with a learning disability. From the age of 14, people registered with a GP as having a learning disability should be offered an Annual Health Check by a GP or qualified practitioner.
GPs are trained and paid for an hour to complete these health checks. This can be broken down into several appointments to suit the needs of our loved ones. The Annual health check works to record details of a person’s current health, identify unmet health needs and produce a Health Action Plan to support ongoing health actions for the person.
A pre-health check questionnaire should be completed and sent to the surgery, by the person or their carers before their appointment, including asking what reasonable adjustments they might need. It will also ask for any documents to be brought along to the appointment, such as medication lists or details of hospital visits etc.
Many things will be discussed that impact on the person’s health, including other primary care services such as dentist, optician and hearing checks. Care and support will also be discussed.
The health check will result in a Health Action Plan being produced by the GP, which is a document that supports the person and their carers to action any health plans suggested to maintain or improve health. The GP will also note any referrals or tests requested.
Have a look at this Gold Standard Annual Health Check Document which all GP’s should be familiar with and competent to complete.
Check with your GP surgery that they are promoting the use of the Gold Standard Annual Health Check document and if not you could share a copy with them or go prepared with your own copy when supporting your loved one at their appointment.
Annual health checks and people with learning disabilities - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)