Search results for ‘Author:"chauhan u."’ Sort:
Results 1 - 1 of 1
Health checks in primary care for adults with intellectual disabilities: how extensive should they be?
- Authors:
- CHAUHAN U., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 54(6), June 2010, pp.479-486.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
General practitioners in the UK are being incentivised to carry out health checks under the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) as a way of detecting unmet need for adults with intellectual disabilities (ID). This study looked at the key parameters recorded as part of the health check and compared any additional value with standard care provided through the current QOF framework. Twenty seven representative practices from four English primary care trusts (Haringey, Nottinghamshire, Oldham and Warwickshire) carried out health checks over a 6-month period. The data were divided into two domains for analysis: 'ID-specific' (visual assessment, hearing assessment, behaviour assessment, bladder function, bowel function and feeding assessment) and the financially incentivised QOF targets (blood pressure, smoking status, ethnicity, body mass index, urine analysis and carer details). A total of 651 ID patients were identified; only nine practices undertook a health check on 92 of their patients with ID during the pilot. Significant differences were found in the recorded information, between those who underwent a health check and those who did not. For those that had a health check, recorded information was on average higher for the 'QOF targets' compared with the 'ID-specific' domain, by 58.7%. The authors suggest that a more targeted approach focused in incentivising ID-specific health issues might be more appropriate than an extensive health check for improving care for people with ID.