Purpose – While “generic” community teams for adults with learning disabilities (CTs) are well-established in the UK, very little recent evidence is available about any aspect of their work. As part of a larger project about the role, structure and functioning of CTs, the purpose of this paper is to provide data about referrals. Design/methodology/approach – Over threemonths, the authors obtained data about 270 consecutive new referrals to five CTs in a countywide integrated health (NHS) and care management (local authority) service. Findings – The 270 referrals related to 255 individuals, mainly already service users, with almost a third (30 per cent, n=204) described as people with severe or profound disabilities. Consistent with the reported living arrangements (residential accommodation or with one or more family members (87 per cent, n=270)), referrals were most often made by social care staff, General Practitioners or carers. The referrals related to a wide range of issues including mental health and/or behavioural needs, physical health and skills, and independence. The major group, however, were requests about a person’s entitlement to specialist learning disability services and/or reviews of an existing social care package. Research limitations/implications – The focus on new referrals and the exclusion of intra-team referrals mean that the data are not representative of a CT’s caseload and cannot be used as a basis for resourcing. Nevertheless, the findings emphasise the heterogeneity of the population, and the long-term and varied nature of their needs, meaning that CTs require access to a range of expertise and, often, an inter-agency approach. The implications for service design are considered. Originality/value – This is the first empirical study of referrals to specialist integrated (health and care management) community learning disabilities teams in England.

中文翻译：

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成人学习障碍专家社区团队：转介到英格兰全县范围的服务

目的——虽然针对有学习障碍的成年人 (CT) 的“通用”社区团队在英国已经建立起来，但关于他们工作的任何方面的最新证据很少。作为有关 CT 的作用、结构和功能的更大项目的一部分，本文的目的是提供有关转诊的数据。设计/方法/方法——在三个月的时间里，作者在全县综合健康 (NHS) 和护理管理（地方当局）服务中获得了大约 270 次连续新转诊的数据。调查结果 – 270 次转介涉及 255 名个人，主要是服务使用者，其中近三分之一（30%，n=204）被描述为患有严重或严重残疾的人。与报告的居住安排一致（住宿或与一名或多名家庭成员（87%，n=270）），转介最常由社会护理人员、全科医生或护理人员进行。转介涉及广泛的问题，包括心理健康和/或行为需求、身体健康和技能以及独立性。然而，主要群体是关于一个人是否有权获得专业学习障碍服务和/或对现有社会关怀包的审查的请求。研究限制/影响——关注新转诊和排除团队内转诊意味着数据不能代表 CT 的案例量，不能用作资源的基础。然而，研究结果强调了人口的异质性，以及他们需求的长期和多样化性质，这意味着 CT 需要获得一系列专业知识，通常还需要一种跨机构的方法。考虑了对服务设计的影响。原创性/价值——这是第一次关于转介到英格兰专家综合（健康和护理管理）社区学习障碍团队的实证研究。