There are points available again from the Investment and Impact Fund (IIF) for PCNs supporting patients with learning disabilities during 2022/23, with the potential for around £13 of funding per patient if targets are met.
This funding will be in addition to that available from QOF and the learning disability enhanced service.
Networks will be able to access this funding if their PCN has conducted annual health checks and written Health Action Plans for 80% of the patients on the learning disability register.
The IIF specification also asks that practices also record the ethnicity and degree of learning disability of patients on the register.
The learning disabilities indicator HI-01 had been one of those suspended in December 2021 to support practices deliver the Covid vaccination programme.
Enhanced service
Meanwhile, the learning disability enhanced service has been around for several years with the requirements remaining relatively stable.
Practices need to keep an up-to-date register of patients over 14 years old who have a learning disability. The codes are the same as those for the QOF learning disabilities register.
Practices also need to provide staff training, so they can communicate effectively with patients with learning disabilities, and perform patient-centred health checks.
Payments for this are £140 per patient receiving a check, with payments made on a quarterly basis.
Guidance and audit requirements are set out in the 2015/16 GMS Contract Guidance, while coding is set out in the Technical Requirements for the 2019/20 Contract.
Boosting uptake
Dr Gavin Jamie, GP partner in Swindon and QOF expert, said: ‘Ultimately your success in encouraging patients to have the checks will be down to your personal relationship with the patient and their carers, and how useful they find the check.
‘The guidance does not specify who should conduct the review, or even that it should all be done by one person. The practice should, however, address any issues that come up at the review and develop an appropriate health action plan.
‘A useful review makes it more likely that they will be motivated to come again next year.’
He added that once a patient has their check, a code should be entered on their record saying they have had an assessment and an action plan has been created.
‘This, along with their entry onto the register, will be extracted quarterly and paid a month or so later,’ he said.
Earlier this year a legal requirement was introduced in the Health and Care Act 2022, which came into effect on 1 July, that stipulates that all CQC-registered providers must now ensure staff are trained in how to interact appropriately with people with a learning disability or autism.
This article has been extracted from a guide ‘Improve your learning disability enhanced service payments’ from our sister publication Pulse Intelligence. Register for a free 30-day trial to read the full piece here.
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