Adult Learning Disabilities - Annual Health Checks Implementation Group Minutes: February 2025

Attendees and apologies

• Scottish Government Officials
• Representative for NHS Highland
• Representative for NHS Shetland
• Representative(s) for NHS Fife
• Representative for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
• Representative for NHS Ayrshire & Arran
• Representative for NHS Lanarkshire 
• Representative for NHS Tayside
• Representative(s) for NHS Grampian
• Representative for NHS Ayrshire & Arran
• Representative for NHS Forth Valley
• Representative for NHS Lothian

 

Apologies:

• Representative for NHS Western Isle 
• Representative for NHS Borders
• Representative for NHS24

Items and actions

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Updates from the Scottish Government (SG)

 

Ministerial letter 

The Chair provided an update to the Group regarding a letter issued by the Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport addressed to Health Board Chief Executives to highlight the importance of the delivery of annual health checks. It was confirmed this letter was issued on 29 January 2025 and a copy was shared with the group for awareness.

Minutes of meetings

The Chair advised the group that a new web page on the Scottish Government (SG) website had been created and will be used to publish the Minutes of the Implementation Group going forward. A copy of the web link will be shared with the Group.

Data survey

There was a discussion around the informal data collection survey to gather information up to the end January that had been circulated via the Group to provide updates to policy team and Minister throughout the year. The Group were reminded of the deadline and the importance of completing this. 

 

Group discussion

Finance 

Member of the Group discussed their concerns around funding allocations and the  decision to bundle the funding for annual health checks as part of the 2024/25 Enhanced Mental Health Outcomes Framework and the uncertainty of reoccurring of funding.SG officials have now confirmed with the group that funding will be recurring and will support Boards to take the steps needed to secure staffing for their delivery models.

Phlebotomy protocol

There was a discussion around expectations of what should be delivered as part of health checks following some push back Boards have received from primary care regarding taking bloods.

SG officials explained the rationale behind the phlebotomy protocol. This is because bloods should be done as part of routine care. For multiple reasons, often this doesn't happen for people with learning disabilities and due to the very high rates of use of antiepileptics, and antipsychotics, and higher rates of diabetes etc compared with the general population, these bloods are more important than they are in the general population.

There were examples given by members in which they have offered all individuals a blood test during their health check and primary care colleagues are on board with this. There have also been instances that bloods have been requested by family members of the individual in which results have been beneficial.

Lived experience resources 

SG Officials explained to the group that they were keen to explore how we can develop additional accessible information for those with lived experience to increase their understanding of the different parts of a health check and what they should expect. This will give people with lived experience more autonomy and control over their health and support them to challenge if there are instances where the expected processes for health checks are not being carried out. SG officials will continue to link in with the Group on this.

SG Officials thanked NHS Lothian for their involvement with Down Syndrome Scotland on the creation of a video resource which goes through the process of having a health check from beginning to end and will be a huge support to both practitioners carrying out health checks and to support lived experience to overcome anxieties and worries about what will happen during their health check.

Data update

SG Officials thanked the group for completing the IT data audit and advised that a summary of the findings would be presented at the next Annual Health Checks for Adults with Learning Disabilities Data Programme Board, which is taking place on Wednesday 19 February.

The group were advised of on going work with the Assembly to ensure those with lived experience are aware of the importance of ensuring they are on the learning disability register and coded correctly. There was discussion around the possibility of producing template letters to assist those with lived experience in writing to their GP to ensure they are on the register.

 

Any other business

There was a discussion around NHS Board Annual Delivery Plans and the fact that Annual Health Checks sit within the Mental Health section. There was an enquiry as to whether or not this was appropriate and if it should actually sit under Public Health Inequalities section. Scottish Government Official confirmed the reason for this was due to the LD unit sitting within the Mental Health Directorate in SG and the funding for annual health checks therefore coming from the Mental Health budget.