LeDeR

Learning from lives and deaths of people with a learning disability and autistic adults (LeDeR) programme is a service improvement programme for people with a learning disability and autistic people. Established in 2017 it’s the first of its kind. LeDeR works to:

  • Improve care for people with a learning disability and autistic people
  • Reduce health inequalities for people with a learning disability and autistic people
  • Prevent people with a learning disability and autistic people from dying early

Research findings show that people with a learning disability and autism are more likely to die of preventable or curable causes. Over 40% of all deaths (documented in this year’s LeDeR report) were avoidable medical causes. People of Asian ethnicity, black ethnic groups and people with mixed ethnicities are more likely to die younger than their white peers. Evidence show that  people with a learning disability and autistic people continue to experience unfair and avoidable differences in accessing health and social care services compared to those without a learning disability or autism hence poor health outcomes. This year’s annual report echoes these findings.

In March 2021 first LeDeR Policy was published. The LeDeR programme changed its name from ‘Learning Disability Mortality Review programme to ‘Learning from lives and deaths of people with a learning disability and autistic adults (LeDeR) programme’. The scope and the process of carrying out reviews changed. In June 2021, a new LeDeR platform was launched to support the new way of working. From 1 April 2022 all Integrated Care systems were responsible for the delivery of the LeDeR programme and to implement all of the requirements of this new policy. Starting January 2022, LeDeR programme started reviewing deaths of autistic adults (without a learning disability).

The ICB is now responsible for the delivery of LeDeR programme locally. We have established a clear governance process to oversee completion of LeDeR reviews and share learning from these reports with the view to improve services. Also, we have made significant progress towards full implementation of the LeDeR Policy. For more information, please read our annual reports.

LeDeR Annual Report 2022/23

This is our 4th Annual Report. It summarises key findings and recommendations from reviews completed between April 2022 to March 2023. It also focusses on local initiatives as a result of the LeDeR programme

LeDeR Annual Report 2022/23 – Full report

Previous LeDeR Annual Reports

Read more about what LeDeR is in this easy read guide.

*Information from http://leder.nhs.uk