Mental health services for people with intellectual disability in the United Kingdom

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/AMHID-03-2018-0017
Pages91-98
Published date02 July 2018
Date02 July 2018
AuthorBhathika Perera,Ken Courtenay
Subject MatterHealth & social care,Learning & intellectual disabilities
Mental health services for people
with intellectual disability in
the United Kingdom
Bhathika Perera and Ken Courtenay
Abstract
Purpose Servicesfor people with intellectualdisabilities in the UK have evolvedover the years from hospital-
based care tomore community provision. Thereare multiple reasons for thesechanges, however, often itwas
due to changes in social policyor following a scandal in provision. The paper aims to discussthese issues.
Design/methodology/approach Providing services to meet the health and social care needs of people with
intellectual disabilities is well-established in thefour countries of the UK withsupport from legislation. There are
often specialist mental health and socialcare teams. Dedicated professionalswork with people with intellectual
disabilities whoexperience mentalhealth problemswith a focuson support in thecommunity. A rangeof services
for childrenand adults and for offenders exist acrossthe UK that often vary in composition and structure.
Findings The challenges in providing mental health services for children and adults with intellectual
disabilities in the future include recruitment and training of the workforce with the remit of enhancing
community support and reduced in-patient care.
Practical implications This paper helps the reader to understand how ID mental health services are
organised in the UK.
Originality/value This paper gives a summary of the ID mental health services in the UK. Even though
there are various papers looking at different aspects of mental health services for people with ID in the UK, this
paper brings all that information together to help reader get a better understanding of the mental health
services for people with ID.
Keywords Training, UK, Intellectual disability, Learning disability, Mental disorder, Mental health service
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The UK is a developed country with a population of 66m. There is a great ethnic diversity in the
populations of metropolitan areas largely related to the colonial past of the UK that attracted
immigration from former colonies. More recently, immigration from Europe has added to the
mix of cultures.
The UK is comprised of the four nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in
which the devolved nations have constitutional assemblies with limited powers, for example,
in health care. It is estimated that nearly 1.1m people in England have a Intellectual disability.
Of these, nearly 200,000 were children and 930,000 were adults. Around 830,000 of them were
aged 1864 (Learning Disabilities Observatory, 2015). Nearly £8bn are spent by Government
through local authorities on care for people with ID in the England divided in to 60 per cent on
social care, 30 per cent on welfare benefits and 10 per cent on specialist intellectual disability
health services (Department of Health, 2017).
Historical context
There has been a significant change in how people with ID live in the UK over the last 40 years
moving from asylum or hospital-based living to more community-based accommodation.
Received 30 March 2018
Revised 10 July 2018
Accepted 2 August 2018
Bhathika Perera is Consultant
Psychiatrist and Ken Courtenay
is Consultant Psychiatrist in ID,
both at Barnet, Enfield and
Haringey Mental Health Trust,
London, UK.
DOI 10.1108/AMHID-03-2018-0017 VOL. 12 NO. 3/4 2018, pp.91-98, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2044-1282
j
ADVANCESIN MENTAL HEALTH AND INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES
j
PAGE91

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