UCAN

Project announcement

Researchers from Keele University, North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust, Swansea Bay University Health Board, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, NHS Grampian, and independent advisor consultant nurse Gwen Moulster OBE, have been awarded funding for a project to support people with learning disabilities.

The RCN Foundation has commissioned a quality improvement project to improve access to urgent and emergency care in times of ill health.

The 12-month project commenced in August 2024 will co-produce a tool to assist people with a learning disability to access urgent and emergency care. The name for the project is UCAN- Supporting people with a learning disability to access urgent and emergency care. It is drawing upon the experiences of people with lived experience of a learning disability who have recently accessed care services.

Aims and objectives

The aim of the UCAN project is to co-design a tool to assist people with lived experience of a learning disability to access urgent and emergency care in times of ill health.

The UCAN project objectives are to:

• Review the current evidence on how those with a lived experience of a learning disability experience access to urgent and emergency care
• Secure expert feedback on the tool framework and proposed data collection instruments
• Identify how those with a lived experience of a learning disability experience access to urgent and emergency care during one-to-one interviews
• Explore options and tools to support those with a lived experience of a learning disability when accessing urgent and emergency care during focus groups
• Assess how professionals across health and social care rate the usefulness and acceptability of the tool in a consultation survey
• Evaluate the project via feedback following the tool launch event using a survey
• Make recommendations to key stakeholders, urgent and emergency care service providers and policy makers given the valuable project learning
• Co-design a tool that supports people with lived experience of a learning disability in accessing urgent and emergency care services
• Create dissemination materials and a campaign that will enhance national awareness of the tool, open datasets that can be utilised by future researchers, and academic publications

Team detail

The UK-wide team have come together to use their expertise on this project to improve access to urgent and emergency care for people with a learning disability in times of ill health.

Partner team members - Consultant nurses in learning disabilities:

• Jessica Lister - North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust
• Professor Neil James - Swansea Bay University Health Board
• Michelle Curran - Belfast Health and Social Care Trust
• Kerry Anderson - NHS Grampian
• Gweneth Moulster (OBE)

Please contact Dale Nixon if you have any questions via: d.nixon@keele.ac.uk / 01782 733265. Dale is a Learning Disability Nurse and is leading the UCAN project.