The Northern Sydney Intellectual Disability Health Service team
meet our Intellectual Disability Health Service The Northern Sydney Intellectual Disability Health Service (NSIDHS) is part of a state- wide initiative that aims to reduce health disparities experienced by people with intellectual disability (ID). In addition to providing ID services to NSLHD, NSIDHS provide outreach services to Mid-North Coast and Northern NSW LHDs. We recently spoke with the team to find out a bit more about the service and an upcoming research project they’re working on. Tell us about the Intellectual Disability
detailed report and recommendations), joint consultations and case discussions. Clinical advice (via telehealth and face-to- face) including strategies to manage behaviours of concern, and reasonable adjustments that health professionals and health services can make to improve the experiences and health outcomes of people with ID accessing services. What does the service increase NSW health staff and GP practice teams’ understanding of complexities in ID health and, improve the knowledge, experience, skills and confidence of health professionals working with people with ID. We aim to improve health outcomes and healthcare experience for people with ID. We also want to challenge stereotypes and reduce stigma experienced by people with ID. How can the service be accessed? want to achieve? We would like to
Outpatient or community referrals need to be made by the client’s usual treating doctor. Inpatient referrals can be made by completing the short inpatient request form. Both forms can be found on our intranet page: https://bit.ly/3zAYKZO
Health Service at NSLHD. It is widely recognised that people with ID experience more complex and chronic health issues, poorer health outcomes and lower life expectancy than the general population. The ID health team are passionate about reducing these health disparities for this population. The team at NSIDHS care deeply about the health and experiences of people with ID, and constantly strive to find new and innovative ways to work with consumers, carers and clinicians to improve the health care experience. What does the service provide? As a consultative service we work in collaboration with the treating doctor and team to provide support in the treatment and management of children and adults with an ID diagnosis and current complex and chronic health issues, in both community and inpatient settings. We can provide comprehensive health assessments (with
Tell us about your upcoming research project.
We have recently been granted ethics approval to conduct the district wide survey: Intellectual Disability: Identifying Knowledge, Experience and Training Needs of Health Staff. The results of this survey will help us identify key areas of need across the district, and will enable us to focus our resources on these priority areas and work with services and staff to improve health outcomes and experiences of people with ID. The survey is open to all staff in the LHD and we would greatly appreciate people taking the time to complete it. The survey can be accessed via https://redcap.link/ intellectualdisability.
NSLHDNEWS | ISSUE 16 | 3 SEPTEMBER 2021
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