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Making decisions about health care

When you are ill, or worried about your health, you might need to see a doctor. Sometimes you might need to see other health care workers like dentists, nurses, or opticians. This is called health care.

Kirsty Keywood, Sara Fovargue and Margaret Flynn wanted to know if people with learning difficulties make their own decisions about health care.
They found that:
visiting the Doctor

People with learning difficulties said they wanted to make decisions about their own health care. But health care workers usually asked parents and carers to make these decisions for them.

People with learning difficulties said that sometimes health care workers did not speak to them. They only talked to parents and carers. This made people upset.

People wanted more information about their health.
Sometimes people needed more time and help to make decisions about health care.