Disparities in the uptake of learning disability annual health checks: a secondary analysis of primary care data.

BACKGROUND

People with intellectual disabilities (referred to as learning disabilities in the UK) face considerable health inequalities. One attempt to address these in England has been through incentivising general practices to complete annual health checks with people with a learning disability aged ≥14 years.

AIM: To examine recent trends in learning disability registers and the uptake of learning disability annual health checks in England.

DESIGN AND

SETTING

Secondary analysis of publicly available general practice data.

METHOD: NHS England data relating to the learning disabilities annual health check scheme from January 2022 to November 2025 were compiled and analysed.

RESULTS

The number of 14-17-year-olds and adults on learning disability registers increased during this period by 30.49% and 14.53%, respectively. The most recent estimates indicate that around 0.588% (n = 374 763/63 766 671) of patients are on learning disability registers, with approximately 0.526% (n = 355 102/63 654 156) aged ≥14 years and eligible for annual health checks. The uptake of annual health checks increased slightly from 68.08% (n = 15 940/23 414) to 71.58% (n = 19 217/26 846) among 14-17-year-olds, and from 79.07% (n = 226 701/286 714) to 80.71% (n = 248 449/307 827) among adults. Uptake was lowest in the South West and East of England, and highest in London, but was similar across deciles of patient deprivation and practice size.

CONCLUSION

Ascertainment of people with a learning disability by primary care services appears to be improving but remains between one-third and one-quarter of prevalence estimates. The uptake of annual health checks among 14-17-year-olds continues to lag behind that of adults.