Staff involved in your care

Our Administration staff:

• talk to our health professionals and other people to help make sure things are just right for you.

• answer the phone, take messages and give them to the right person.

• help the health professionals to produce their letters and reports.

• book rooms for the team and help health professionals to set up meetings.

• make notes at meetings.

• update records and make sure everything is right.

• make sure all the referrals are recorded.

• pay invoices for the team.

• order equipment.

• have training to make sure they are always up-to-date.

• work together as a team to get everything done.

Our Art Therapists:

• Will look at pictures and objects with you.
• You can make things.
• Sometimes we draw and paint. We help you with this.
• We find a room for you to work with us in. The room must be a good, safe place.
• We always give you a choice. 
• We help you talk about your life. Sometimes it is good, sometimes it is difficult.
• Art Therapy aims to give you more control of your life.

We can help with:

• Challenging behaviour

• Functional behaviour assessments

• Functional analysis

• Preference assessments

• Positive behaviour support plans

• Teaching skills

• Training staff in understanding behaviour

• Periodic service reviews.

You cannot refer directly to the service, all referrals come from local Community Learning Disability Teams. 

Hospital Liaison Nursing

• Support patients with learning disabilities during their visit or their stay in hospital.

• Listen to and involve family and carers in the patient’s care.   

• Help patients understand the care they are getting.    

• Encourage the use of Hospital Passports.    

• Arrange a visit to hospital before you have your hospital appointment or stay, if needed.     

• Use easy read information.    

• Give people information they can understand.   

More information can be found on the Hampshire Hospitals Foundation Trust website 

How to contact us

Monday - Friday, from 9am to 5pm. Email general enquiries to learning.disability@hhft.nhs.uk

Easy Read Leaflet on Hospital Liaison Nurses  - Made by Hampshire Hospital Foundation Trust (HHFT) 

Information for Relatives and Carers -  made by Hampshire Hospital Foundation Trust (HHFT)

Our Learning Disability Nurses

work with people who have a learning disability and will support you with your health issues including:

• Physical health

• Epilepsy

• Mental health

• Behaviours (including offending behaviour)

• Autism

• Memory issues

• Eating and drinking

• Medicines

They will also help you to get a good service from your GP, the hospital or other health care services you may use.

Our Occupational Therapists can also be called OTs

They:

• Use activity to improve your health.

• Help you with your skills and making healthy choices.

• Find out what is important to you.

• Ask if we can talk to other people who know you.

• Find a way to help you. 

• Ask you if our plan is working.

• Tell other people how to help you.

Physiotherapists can help you. They can:

• Try to stop you from falling and hurting yourself.      

• Use exercises to help.

• Visit you in your home, at your day service, or in a leisure centre.       

• Help you with your posture through the day and night.      

• Make sure that your wheelchair, armchair and bed are right for you.      

• Help your body to work.

Psychiatrists:

• Are doctors who can talk to you when you are worried or sad.  

• Can help you worry less.

• Can help you feel happier.

• Sometimes they may give you medicine to help you worry less or feel happier.  

• They work in a team to try to help you get the best support.

Psychologists:

• Are Doctors but are not ones that give you medication.       

• They help people to try and lead full and meaningful lives.

They work with people to help them:

• Manage emotions, like sadness, anxiety and anger.

• Develop skills to face the things they are scared of, like leaving the house, or dealing with worrying situations.

• Get more from relationships, and help families to work better together.

• Cope with difficult thoughts or painful memories.

• Understand how they think and behave, by finding out things people find easier or more difficult to do.

• We do this agreeing your health goals.

They do this by:

• Listening to how you are thinking and feeling, and the things that have happened to you in your life. 

• Trying to understand what is important to you, and helping you to do more of these things.

• Doing assessments, which help to understand how you think and behave.

• Helping your family, carers or staff to support you to live a meaningful life.  

When people are stressed, upset or lonely, people sometimes do things they don't want to do. They might hurt themselves or other people, break things or do things that could get them in trouble with the Police. Psychologists can help people find other things to do when they feel stressed, upset or lonely. 

Speech and Language Therapists:

• Help people who have difficulties with eating and drinking and their communication.

• Take referrals for people who are showing new signs and symptoms of difficulty swallowing.

• Can come and see you during a meal or snack time. 

• Ask you to try some different types of food, textures and consistencies.    

• Help you, and those that support you, to understand how to eat and drink safely.

• Take referrals for people when their communication difficulties are affecting their health.

• Will assess your communication to find out what you’re good at and what you need help with.

• Will help those around you to understand how best to communicate with you.

• We might also work with you to learn new ways of communicating, using signing or a communication book.

We have Support Workers working in our teams to help you.

They support the team so you get all the help you need.

Therapy Assistants:

• Will work with you on the recommendations made by the therapist.

• Make things to help, so that your life is easier.

Therapy assistants work with Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists and others.