Innovation

A dedicated service was created, led and delivered by Your Healthcare’s neurodevelopmental nurses, to improve clinical outcomes for adults with intellectual disabilities. This patient centred approach incorporated physical and psychological behavioural outcomes with significant feedback from an array of multi-professional and patient groups demonstrating a positive impact on quality of life.

The team was recognised for their innovative approach with a national award from the Nursing Times in 2024.

Your Healthcare’s rehabilitation team recognised the benefits of people with long-term neurological conditions exercising regularly. Conventional gyms are often not suitable, so patients discharged by the team after rehab are offered continuing exercise classes in the specialist Your Healthcare gym, overseen by an exercise therapist, for a small fee.

Re-referrals back to the NHS have dropped as a result and clients report improvements in both physical and mental wellbeing.

The team also offers Nordic walking classes and those discharged often choose to continue in a linked user-run group. Popular aquatic therapy sessions (the only ones in the area) are also available with a small fee to cover the cost of pool hire

Walk-in contraception and sexual health services were developed for under 21s, after numbers dropped during the Pandemic and never recovered. Many users are vulnerable and find interacting with health professionals challenging, especially those in younger age groups (e.g.13-16 yrs).

A texting system was also introduced to encourage young people to engage with the service generally. ‘Firetext’ shows message history, allowing different triage nurses to continue the conversation over a number of days if needed, preventing delays in accessing treatment and advice

Other services for young people are adopting this very successful system

Needle phobia is common among adults with learning disabilities, yet blood tests are vital for identifying and monitoring health conditions (e.g. diabetes and cholesterol) and side-effects of some medications (e.g. anti-epileptic). Some adults experienced force or restraint as children which exacerbated this problem.

Experts at Your Healthcare designed and delivered a specialist needle de-sensitisation clinic for adults with learning disabilities to support them with blood tests. Adjustments were made to ensure service users could engage, including sensory aids, specialist communication aids and a reward system. A step-by-step procedure to work at the pace of the service user was adopted over multiple appointments, to build confidence.

After attending the clinic, people with a learning disability previously unable to, now have an opportunity to have a blood test, with a 78% success rate to date, leading to improved health outcomes. Needle de-sensitisation also has a positive impact on immunisation levels – significant as mortality rates are higher in this group from respiratory disease, including flu and COVID-19.

The national Learning Disability Mortality Review LeDeR shows that people with learning disabilities die from avoidable medical causes twice as frequently as the general population.

Your Healthcare’s Project 2020 addresses specific challenges faced by people with learning disabilities such as communication barriers, limited access to information, and a lack of tailored healthcare services.

Conducted in residential homes and supported living environments, specialist learning disability nurses review access to national screening programmes and routine health checks, ensuring people with learning disabilities have access to GP annual health checks and condition-specific medical reviews. Respiratory problems cause 31% of deaths in people with learning disabilities so low uptake of pneumococcal vaccinations is particularly worrying.

After each review, an action plan is shared in a face-to-face meeting and carers/service users are guided to specific services.

The Project 2020 programme materials have now been requested by other boroughs keen to roll-out the programme.

Community breastfeeding clinics for new mothers. Breastfeeding rates in the UK are historically low and mothers in the most deprived areas have much lower rates compared to those in the least deprived.

Your Healthcare’s health visitors designed a pioneering community programme to allow mothers to receive expert advice, in their neighbourhood, from our infant feeding team.

By providing drop-in breastfeeding clinics throughout the borough to offer expert practical advice and peer-to-peer support, along with home visits, mothers are helped to begin and continue breastfeeding.

This has contributed to breastfeeding rates of 75% in Kingston, compared to the average rate in the UK of 55% (any breastfeeding at 6-8 weeks), reduced the workload of GP practices, and resulted in Your Healthcare achieving Baby Friendly accreditation from UNICEF ‘for excellent practice in the support of infant feeding’.

Your Healthcare’s School Health Service observed increasing numbers of children with mental health conditions including anxiety and depressive symptoms.

The team took a pro-active approach and developed SnapBack, a resilience programme delivered to 11 and 12-year old children at the point of transition to secondary school. The programme equips children with skills to bounce back from life’s challenges. The School Health Team train Year 7 form tutors to deliver the programme, using dedicated resources.

A research study showed statistically significant reductions in anxiety for pupils who had received SnapBack. Analysis suggests SnapBack may also reduce depressive symptoms so further work in this area will be taken.