New ‘Standards of Practice for Physiotherapists working with Adults with a Learning Disability’, written by Sarah Bruce and David Standley, have been published. The standards have been endorsed by and developed with the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists for People with Learning Disabilities (ACPPLD) and can be viewed on their website, by clicking here.

The new definition of specialist learning disability physiotherapy is:

Learning disability physiotherapists provide specialist assessment, treatment and management to adults with a learning disability whose needs cannot be successfully met by mainstream services, even when reasonable adjustments are made. Physiotherapists will work in collaboration with the person, their network of care, mainstream health services, and the multidisciplinary team to enhance, optimise and maintain the person’s physical presentation, function and quality of life.

The authors explained: "The standards of practice were developed in response to evidence and feedback that highlighted wide variations in the provision of specialist physiotherapy for adults with a learning disability across the UK. This has impacted on the management of the physiotherapy needs of adults with a learning disability. The standards aim to improve and standardise the delivery, development and commissioning of specialist physiotherapy to adults with a learning disability by:

• Supporting clinical reasoning and evidence based arguments in everyday clinical practice
• Providing advice and evidence for specialist learning disability physiotherapists to support discussions with service leads, managers and commissioners
• Raising awareness of the role of the specialist learning disability physiotherapist to commissioners, service managers, the multidisciplinary team and mainstream health

The standards of practice recognise the importance of multi-disciplinary and collaborative working to achieve positive outcomes for adults with a learning disability and their care network."

To read the standards of practice, click here.