Home Visiting your hospitals Our services Our care & support Get involved Charity Get in touch Home » Our care and support » Patients with learning disabilities and autism Patients with learning disabilities and autism Our learning disability liaison team helps adult patients with learning disabilities and autism, and their carers, to access high quality care and have a positive experience in hospital. We want individuals to feel fully supported and in control over choices relating to their care. How we help Our dedicated learning disability nurses provide support with emergency admissions, outpatient appointments and inpatient stays. We also help when you leave hospital, and support families and carers throughout the patient journey. We do this by: making patient letters and leaflets easy to read and understand improving the use of patient health passports – a document which helps patients communicate their likes and dislikes involving carers and families in the care planning process training and supporting our hospital staff to help understand the individual’s needs. Coming to hospital during COVID-19 We have put together a set of resources for patients who may need to understand why our staff wear personal protective equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 risk period. These include: an easy read poster about why we wear PPE a symbol sheet explaining why people wear gloves, masks and aprons in hospital a printable sheet to keep with the patient and give to staff on emergency admission to hospital What might happen if you need to come into hospital Why staff may wear PPE in hospital Contact us 8.30am to 4.30pm, Monday to Friday Karen Howsam 01296 316991 / 07876 231051 karenhowsam@nhs.net In this section How we support you Our quality and safety standards Safeguarding adults and children Patients with learning disabilities and autism Support for carers Contact 01296 315000 for all hospitals and services 01296 316042 for our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) (9am to 4pm, Monday to Friday. Email bht.pals@nhs.net) facebook-square- Bedford twitter-square- Bedford Useful information Our organisation Work with us Publications Get involved Accessibility Terms and conditions Press and media Privacy notice Contact us Our charity Birth choices Children and young people Research & innovation Publications © 2021 | Site by Phew Close COVID-19 safety measures remain in place Safety measures remain in place in our Trust – Visitor restrictions still apply and everyone in our hospitals is required to wear a facemask, maintain social distancing and follow NHS safety measures. Cookies on this sites This website uses cookies to help us improve your user experience. Our cookie policy explains what we use cookies for and why. If you continue to use our website, you will be providing your consent for us to use cookies. Read Cookie Policy I accept cookies from this site