Support for learning disabilities when going to hospital

Your child or young person can get extra support while in hospital.

Learning disability nurses

Local hospitals have a learning disability nurse to support your child while they are in hospital. They make sure your child gets good care.

Ask your hospital to put you in touch with their learning disability nurse ahead of your stay.

Hospital passports

Hospital passports give staff important information about your child and help make appointments and hospital stays run smoothly.

If your child needs to go to hospital either as an inpatient or outpatient, we recommend you download and fill in a hospital passport.

Find out more about health passports and download a copy on the Mencap website.

Local hospitals

Your local hospital staff will help make your child's hospital stay as comfortable as possible.

Royal Berkshire Hospital (RBH)

RBH provides a learning disability liaison nurses service, hospital passports and easy read guides for patients who find communicating difficult.

Find more about how they support disabled patients on the Royal Berkshire Hospital website.

Frimley Park Hospital

Frimley Park Hospital provides a learning disability liaison service. They can work with staff to help them understand your child's needs.

Find out more about the service on the Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust website.

Travelling to and from hospital

You will normally be expected to make your own way to hospital if it's not an emergency. You can look on a hospital’s website to find out about disabled parking spaces and wheelchair access to their site.

Find your local hospital on the NHS website.

Patient Transport Service

If you do not qualify for the patient transport service, local community transport schemes may be able to help. Use our SEND Local Offer directory to find services in your area.

Search for local community transport schemes

Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS)

If you are referred to hospital or other NHS service by your doctor, dentist or primary healthcare professional, you may be able to claim a refund of reasonable travel costs under the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS).

Find out more information on hospital travel costs and accessibility.

Find out who can claim for help with travel costs on the NHS UK website.

NHS Business Services Authority Knowledge Base provides information about getting NHS Help with Health Costs.

Find more information and advice

There is advice for people with learning disabilities on the NHS website.

You can find various health-related easy-read guides on the Easyhealth website.