The Institute of Nursing and Health Research

New Developments in End of Life Care For People with Learning Disabilities

Chaired by Professor Owen Barr, Head of the School of Nursing, this one day conference brought together leading experts and researchers in the field of learning disability and end of life care to present new findings, development and innovations that have resulted from their work. They include: Dorry McLoughlin, Dr Noelle Blackman, Dr Irene Tuffrey-Wijne, Amanda Cresswell, Dr Laurence Taggart, Elizabeth Fahey-McCarthy and Karen Diamond.
The Conference, under the auspices of the Palliative Care for People with Learning Disabilities Network, (PCPLD) took place on Wednesday, the 20th June from 10am-4pm at the Dunsilly Hotel, Antrim.

Topics include:

· Joint learning and working between learning disability and palliative care services;
· Bereavement risk assessment for people with learning disability;
· A new model for breaking bad news to people with disabilities;
· Breast screening and learning disability;
· Dementia and learning Disability.

Professor Barr stated: This exciting event was very well attended and the presentations provided clear information on recent developments in services and research and lead to much discussion on how these could be implemented more widely. A major benefit of the day was the opportunity for staff from a range of learning disability and palliative care services to meet up and build new networks that will be of benefit in supporting people with learning disabilities who require palliative care.