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Annual Health check for people with learning difficulties

Why annual health checks are important

Annual health checks are offered to people with a learning disability over the age of 14. Having a learning disability can be a difficult and challenging experience. It can affect a person's ability to learn, communicate and interact with others. It can also lead to physical and mental health issues. That's why it's important for people with learning disabilities to get an annual health check.

What are annual health checks?

An annual health check is a physical examination of a person to detect any potential health issues. It can also find any changes in a person's health. The annual health check will involve a GP, or a nurse measuring a person's weight, heart rate, blood pressure, taking some blood and some urine sample tests.

During the check, your GP will:

  • talk to you about staying well and if you need any help with this
  • ask about things that can be more common if you have a learning disability, such as epilepsy constipation or problems with swallowing (dysphagia), or with your eyesight or hearing
  • talk to you about your medicines to make sure you are being given the right medicines when you need them
  • check to see if your vaccinations are up to date
  • check how you are feeling if you have a health problem such as asthma or diabetes
  • check to see if you have any other health appointments
  • ask if your family or carers are getting the support they need
  • help make sure that things go well when children move to adult services at the age of 18

Where can I go and book an annual health check for someone with a learning disability?

There are many places in Surrey where you can go for an annual health check. The person must be on the GP learning disability register. Some of the most popular options include:

  1. Surrey Memorial Hospital
  2. Surrey Urgent Care Centre
  3. Surrey Walk-in Centre
  4. Surrey Family Practice
  5. Surrey Primary Care Network (GP surgery)
  6. Surrey Health Services

You can find out more about annual health checks for people with learning disabilities on the NHS annual health checks web page.

Free NHS health checks are also available to everyone between 40 and 74 years old without a pre-existing health condition, find out more on the Healthy Surrey free health checks web page.

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