Mental health services for people with intellectual disability in the United Kingdom

Purpose Services for people with intellectual disabilities in the UK have evolved over the years from hospital-based care to more community provision. There are multiple reasons for these changes, however, often it was due to changes in social policy or following a scandal in provision. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach Providing services to meet the health and social care needs of people with intellectual disabilities is well-established in the four countries of the UK with support from legislation. There are often specialist mental health and social care teams. Dedicated professionals work with people with intellectual disabilities who experience mental health problems with a focus on support in the community. A range of services for children and adults and for offenders exist across the UK that often vary in composition and structure. Findings The challenges in providing mental health services for children and adults with intellectual disabilities in the future include recruitment and training of the workforce with the remit of enhancing community support and reduced in-patient care. Practical implications This paper helps the reader to understand how ID mental health services are organised in the UK. Originality/value This paper gives a summary of the ID mental health services in the UK. Even though there are various papers looking at different aspects of mental health services for people with ID in the UK, this paper brings all that information together to help reader get a better understanding of the mental health services for people with ID.