4 Summary of Session 2

In this session you have explored elements of good support for older people with learning disabilities who live at home with their family carers. You also considered the importance of supporting older people with learning disabilities who live at home with family carers to plan ahead. Our research was focused on finding good practice, so you may have been surprised that the plans for Becky were not further ahead. In fact, this mirrored the experience of most other families we spoke to whose relative lived at home. The current support for older family carers to plan ahead with their adult child is a major gap in health and social care. This is also reflected in the literature and what has been reported in other projects (Tilley et al., 2023). This is an area of practice that requires urgent attention.

However, some of the family carers we spoke to, particularly those whose relative had made the move out of the family home, did have some useful tips and recommendations for how to plan ahead. These can be found in our course Caring for an older family member with learning disabilities [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .

In the next session you will explore a different model of family-based support for older people with learning disabilities, that of Shared Lives.

You can now go to Session 3.