Coming to hospital if you have a learning disability

Our Acute Liaison Nurses across South Tyneside and Sunderland provide extra support to people with learning disabilities when they come to hospital.

South Tyneside ALS

Sunderland ALS

• Your care passport contains information about you and your carers.
• It can be completed by someone who knows you well, such as a family member, friend or carer.
• It helps us to involve you in making the best decisions about your care and to make any reasonable adjustments (changes to the way we usually do things).
• You should take your care passport to all of your health appointments.
• It will help us get to know you and tell us what you like and don’t like.
• It is your booklet to keep with you

Your care passport looks like this

You can download the care passport from the Sunderland Action for Health website (click here).

If you don’t already have one we can give you a care passport when you are admitted to hospital.

• Your 'My Health Record' contains information about you and your carers.
• It can be completed by someone who knows you well, such as a family member, friend or carer.
• It helps us to involve you in making the best decisions about your care and to make any reasonable adjustments (changes to the way we usually do things).
• You should take your care passport to all of your health appointments.
• It will help us get to know you and tell us what you like and don’t like.

Click here to find out more 

We like to hear from patients and understand what you think about our services.

You can tell us:

• What we have done well (a compliment)
• What we have not done well (a complaint)
• If you are worried about something and want to talk to us about it (a concern)

If you have any issues, or want to talk to us about one of our services, it’s usually best to ask to speak to the nurse in charge so we can solve things straight away.

We also have an advice and complaints department who are always happy to help.

You can contact the team in any of the following ways:

• Email: stsft.adviceandcomplaints@nhs.net
• Telephone: 0191 569 9855 or Freephone 08005876513
• Opening times: Monday-Friday 8:30am - 5pm

You can also come in and see us. We are based at Sunderland Royal Hospital on B floor, just along from the main hospital entrance on Kayll Road (opposite the main lifts).

Learning Disability Matters for Families’ WebApp

South Tyneside:

Community Learning Disability Team - Telephone 0191 2832583

Your Voice Counts Advocacy Service  - Telephone 0191 4786472

Mencap 0191 4870444

Sunderland:

Sunderland Action for Health

Sunderland People First

Healthwatch Sunderland