Training and developing staff in general hospitals: intellectual disability liaison nurses and the RAID model
| Published date | 28 October 2014 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AMHID-04-2014-0006 |
| Date | 28 October 2014 |
| Pages | 390-398 |
| Author | Nick Walsh,Tricia Handley,Ian Hall |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Learning & intellectual disabilities,Accounting education |
Training and developing staff in general
hospitals: intellectual disability liaison
nurses and the RAID model
Nick Walsh, Tricia Handley and Ian Hall
Dr Nick Walsh is a Consultant
Liaison Psychiatrist, based at
East London NHS Foundation
Trust, London, UK.
Tricia Handley is based at
Intellectual Disability Liaison
Nurse, Barts Health NHS Trust,
London, UK.
Dr Ian Hall is a Consultant
Psychiatrist, based at East
London NHS Foundation Trust,
London, UK.
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address the serious problems that people with intellectual
disability face in getting their healthcare needs met in general hospitals by improving the training of general
hospital staff.
Design/methodology/approach – Review of recent developments in models of service provision
including the development of intellectual disability liaison nurses and the RAID model in liaison psychiatry.
Findings – There is much scope for intellectual disability liaison nurses and liaison psychiatry services
to work together in staff training in general hospitals. There is a clear strategic role for both services in
convincing the management of general hospitals to implement such training using economic and
quality arguments.
Originality/value – The authors suggest a new model of working to improve the healthcare outcomes of
people with intellectual disabilities through effective training of staff in general hospitals.
Keywords Training, Outcomes, Disability, Liaison, Intellectual, RAID
Paper type Conceptual paper
Introduction
There have been some extremely serious failures in recent years in general hospitals in the UK
(Francis, 2013), and in particular some catastrophic failures to meet the healthcare needs of
people with intellectual disabilities (Mencap, 2007). Partly as a result of these scandals, learning
disability liaison nurses have been introduced in the UK, as well as other measures to improve
healthcare for people with intellectual disabilities in general hospitals. In parallel, there have been
many recent developments in the field of liaison psychiatry. The RAID model (Parsonage and
Fossey, 2011) makes sound economic arguments for addressing the mental health needs of
people admitted to general hospitals, because this makes for better outcomes and shorter
admissions, with most of the economic advantage due to training of general staff.
In this article we argue for a coming together of these two approaches to better meet the
needs of people with intellectual disabilities who use general hospitals, particularly through the
training and development of general hospital staff.
Background
Developments in liaison psychiatry
Liaison psychiatry is the branch of psychiatry that deals with mental disorders presenting in
medical settings (Sharpe, 2014). In the past, liaison services developed in an ad hoc way,
driven by local need and historical service agreements. In the UK, liaison psychiatry
was recognised as a subspecialty of General Adult Psychiatry in 1997. However, liaison
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ADVANCES IN MENTAL HEALTH AND INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES
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VOL. 8 NO. 6 2014, pp. 390-398, CEmeraldGroup Publishing Limited, ISSN 2044-1282 DOI 10.1108/AMHID-04-2014-0006
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