Edinburgh Napier University Chronic Respiratory Disease Toolkit

Respiratory health conditions are the leading cause of death in people with a learning disability. This project is a step towards identifying and improving the education and training needs of student nurses (all fields), so that they can meet the respiratory needs of people with a learning disability.

Based on the insights of stakeholders, a toolkit was developed to foster a more supportive environment for individuals with learning disabilities and their carers, enhancing both professional care and self-management of respiratory illness.

The research has informed policy and practice and has been disseminated to policy makers (such as the Scottish Cross Parliamentary group on Lung Health), clinicians (such as the Scottish Learning Disability Nursing Network) and academics (on a national and international level).

The toolkit will be shared at different forums such as the Cross Parliamentary Group on learning disability and Council of Deans for Health and the project team will collaborate with nursing colleagues across the UK to start to embed the findings into pre-registration health/social care curricula.