Cecilia Landa-Avila, Gyuchan Thomas Jun, Satheesh Gangadharan, Sarah Rabbitte, and Amy Wilkins
Healthcare systems worldwide are facing challenges to cope with the contemporary demands of the population. Many strategies have been implemented in an attempt to mitigate the urgent needs. In the UK, plans for Integrated Care Systems (ICS) are looking to reconcile health and social care and provide holistic care for people (NHS England, 2021).
Despite these efforts, some populations with more complex needs are not yet receiving the care they need. This is the case for People with Learning Disabilities (PLD), who often face healthcare inequalities. PLD is seen as a disadvantaged population, making up about 1% of those enrolled in the UK’s National Health Service; about two-thirds of this population also have two or more long-term conditions (Tyrer et al., 2019). Moreover, PLD tends to die between 18 to 14 years younger than the rest of the population, and 38% of PLD died from an avoidable cause, compared to 9% in a comparison population of people without a learning disability (Emerson & Hatton, 2013; Heslop et al., 2014). Health disparities that this group experiences result from their inadequate participation in healthcare research, which fails to capture the complexity of care required (Mimmo et al., 2021; Raman & French, 2021).
Therefore, a joined-up model is needed to effectively coordinate care for PLDs. This model must be co-developed with PLDs, their carers, and health and social care professionals. Moreover, it could be leveraged with new technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), that can support sensemaking and integration of large amounts of data.
KEYWORDS: inclusive systemic design, multistakeholder participation, healthcare, artificial intelligence.
RSD TOPIC(S): Health & Well-Being, Methods & Methodology.