Just 6% of eligible people with a learning disability in Scotland were offered a promised annual health check last year, far below the Scottish government’s commitment.

Annual health checks for people with learning disabilities were launched in Scotland in May 2022 in efforts to tackle health inequalities.

Everyone who is eligible was meant to have been offered a check by May 2023.

However, new figures released by the Scottish government show just 1,405 of 23,758 (6.9%) people eligible were offered a health check in 2023/24.

This is despite health boards receiving £2m that year for this purpose.

First Minister John Swinney said he was “not familiar with the issue” when questioned about the failings by Paul O’Kane MSP in parliament at the end of last year.

People First (Scotland), the national disabled people’s organisation of adults with a learning disability, said most of its members have not yet been offered an annual health check and many are not even aware of the commitment.

The organisation told healthandcare.scot that a lack of progress on annual health checks is characteristic of wider failings in tackling the many barriers to health and wellbeing its members face:

“We welcomed Scottish government’s commitment to deliver annual health checks, but we were cautious about how it would be rolled out and whether enough resources would be made available.

“It is disappointing that so little progress has been made, on this and all other areas of our lives.

“We also know that annual health checks alone will not address the health inequality we experience across all parts of our life.

“We want to see accessible communication, mandatory training and accessible systems and processes in all parts of the health service. Some of these were proposed in the Learning Disability, Autism and Neurodivergence Bill consultation."

Awareness raising and lifting barriers were also highlighted by People First (Scotland) as important in ensuring people with a learning disability can live well and have equitable access to healthcare.

Studies show adults with learning disabilities often have significantly more complex patterns of multimorbidity, experience poorer health outcomes and, in Scotland, die on average 20 years earlier than other people.

Recent research led by the University of Glasgow’s Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory – the steering group of which members of People First (Scotland) sit - found adults with learning disabilities are three times more likely than the general public to die from cancer.

Professor Deborah Cairns, Director of the Observatory, told healthandcare.scot that premature deaths are often the result of conditions that have been missed or diagnosed too late – and that annual health checks could make a difference.

“Annual health checks have the potential to reduce this 20-year mortality gap by identifying unmet clinical conditions in a timely manner, in addition to improving the management of long-term conditions for this population,” she explained.

“Many people with learning disabilities will understandably be frustrated and disappointed that they have not yet been offered a health check, but we are aware that the Scottish government are working hard to expedite the process. 

“When the Scottish government do achieve their commitment to rolling out annual health checks for people with learning disabilities across Scotland; the implications on the health and quality of life of people with learning disabilities could be substantial.”

The Scottish government said health boards have struggled to provide the health checks within the deadline and are now working on providing them on a phased basis.

Mental health and wellbeing minister Maree Todd said:

“We want people with learning disabilities to live longer and healthier lives. Offering annual health checks is big step towards fulfilling that ambition.

“Most boards have started offering annual health checks and this has led to positive results in identifying treatable health conditions and supporting people with learning disabilities to access appropriate treatment.

“We are aware boards have faced challenges in delivering health checks within the projected timescale and are doing so on a phased basis. We are working closely with boards to deliver these health checks across Scotland.”

Read more: Coming Home: Not a pipe dream; High cancer risk for adults with learning disabilities; New push to help patients "lost in system"; Scotland prioritises neuro-inclusion, says government; Briefing: Edinburgh’s global neurodiversity meeting

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