Preparing to come to hospital

This page will help you to prepare for visiting our hospitals.

We are working hard across all our hospital sites to make them as accessible as possible. Please use the links below to help you prepare.

Preparing to come to Hospital Easy read leaflet

Preparing to come to hospital easy read leaflet

Preparing to come to hospital Information for patients, carers and relatives

Leeds children’s hospital television

Helping children, young people and their families through treatment

Reasonable adjustments

Reasonable Adjustments at Leeds Teaching Hospitals

I um I’ve got an appointment I think but
I’m not sure what’s the name
breezy Ellison okay I guess so
you’ll be with dr. Cole buddy cuckoo
five to 1445 is just do that don’t
you’re right then take another right and
left to left to the right to the right
to the right it’ll be just behind you
there may be a bit of a wait I’m afraid
around 1800 seconds or so we will try
and see you as soon as we can

who’s that and you say you’ve been feeling quite
tired recently yeah up there mostly in
the evenings so I don’t know if it’s
just well I don’t think there’s anything
to worry about but I would like to try
on some new medication right okay just a
precaution see if you respond differently so you
want to take these every 85 hours two
times a week the next month and a half
and these four times every three days
for the next two weeks unless is a bank
holiday sorry stop can you just go back

I’m just not following of course of
course I understand this can all be a
little confusing at first I’ll try not
to go too fast but really once you got
the hang of it this is easy as ABC c a b
b b a b c CB a BB so you take these
every three to five days hello my name
is Alison Canas the lead professional
for learning disabilities and autism in
Leeds Teaching Hospitals we estimate
that there are 7,000 autistic people in
Leeds and 15,000 people with a learning
disability combined these people contact

our services thousands of times a yea
Leeds Teaching Hospitals aim is to be
the best for patient safety quality and
experience please consider each
patient’s individual needs bearing in
mind they may have a hidden disability
under the Equality Act we are all
required to make reasonable adjustments
we know that with the right reasonable
adjustments in place we can reduce
health inequality non-attendance and
length of stay we will improve patient
outcomes here are some examples of
reasonable adjustments that we can make

presented by volunteers with a learning
disability and/or autism
Acme what time a brick mount apartment
please make sure I can get to my
appointment gave me enough time please
offer my appointment on time I’ll tell
me what is happening be clearly and use
simple words think about what I command
the fund and tell you let me bring a
Frank our family member with me case
made easy read information where’s the
big quiet place to work for further
advice and support look on the Leeds
Teaching Hospitals intranet pages or
contact the learning disability and
autism team

Acute care bags

How A&E can be more accessible for people with a learning disability and autistic people

Going into A&E can make me feel quite anxious and quite stressed because I don’t  know what to expect and it can also raise my sensory difficulties which are lighting,  smells, too many people and noise and I don’t know what’s going to happen next.

I work with the learning disabilities team and partners across the city and
wider regionally to ensure that we deliver at this hospital the best care possible for our patients that have a learning disability and patients that are diagnosed with autism.

We have given over 200 bags to our patients with a learning disability and/or autism and the feedback we have got from staff and patients is ensuring that actually it is having a positive impact.

Staff are reporting they feel more confident and that they feel that by giving a bag out  they are delivering an additional side of care and actually meeting the needs of somebody who may be  struggling in that department.

We have also had positive feedback from our patients and families.
The bag comes with a tag which the staff in the emergency department will put the patients NHS  number on and send to us and this acts as a referral to the learning disability and  autism team in the trust so we will then follow their patient journey and support appropriately.

It was really good getting the bag because it meant I had a distraction from been in A&E. So the reason why reasonable adjustments are really important is because we need to improve people’s sensory experience of being in A&E.

When we continue with the project we want to use it in all acute admitting areas and not just the emergency department.