Essex has one of the largest ever-growing populations of people ageing with disabilities, some of this due to the high number of long stay hospitals that were in the area and the number of people who were consequently rehoused in the County.

Now you have familiarised yourself with the Ageing Well with disabilities Toolkits and contents, what should you do next?

• Go through, ponder, discuss the questions for practitioners at the end of each section of this toolkit, either individually or in your team meetings.
• Make sure that you are as informed as Service Providers and others
• Take a look at the Carers and Families version of the Toolkit and promote this in your discussions with them. Ageing well with a learning disability: Information for families and carers | Provider Hub | Essex – Familiarise yourself with this version of the Toolkit, put together in collaboration with Essex Carers Network and share it widely with families that you come into contact with.
• Remember that families/Carers are far more frequently quality assuring what’s happening with their loved one, more than you are able to do so at an annual review, so you want them to be as informed and knowledgeable too.
• Prepare before you go to attend a review. Take a copy of the Checklist for reviews and remind yourself what to look for and ask to see.                
• Remember that chronological age is not a good measure for identifying if someone is showing signs of ageing.
• Use the ‘early warning signs’ information in your initial discussions when booking reviews, ask relevant questions in advance so that you can be ready with information, copies of tools and guidance to help the person get the right support on their ageing well journey
• Be passionate about promoting ageing as just another life stage, not the ‘end of life’.
• Life can continue to be just as exciting, learning new things, making new friends and having new experiences, subject to maintaining good health as far as possible.
• Complete the E-Learning training for ageing Well with Disabilities and share your new knowledge widely

Remember than people with disabilities continue to die much earlier than the general population, of preventable and treatable causes.

You are in a position to make a positive difference to that, by ensuring that people are well supported to get equal access to health interventions, in a timely manner.

Spread the word about Ageing with a disability, be the person that made a difference, help bring the numbers down of those who continue to die unnecessarily early, of preventable and treatable causes.