To mark the start of Learning Disability Week 2025, themed “Do You See Me?”, North East Ambulance Service proudly announces the launch of a sector-first, co-produced Learning Disability and Autism training programme, created in partnership with patients, carers, and advocacy groups across the region.
This pioneering programme has been developed alongside the North East & North Cumbria Learning Disability and Autism Network, individuals with lived experience, and organisations such as Inclusion North, Skills for People, and Autism in Mind. It is a direct response to long-standing health inequalities and aims to improve how ambulance staff interact with and care for people with a learning disability and autistic people.
Assistant director of people and development at the North East Ambulance Service, Karen Gardner, oversees the service’s training school and continued professional development of its staff. On the development of the new training, she said: “I’m really proud to see that our service has been able to develop more training so that our colleagues on the road are able to provide the right support to all of our patients, including those with learning disabilities and autism.”
Driving Real Change
National reviews, including the LeDeR (Learning from the Lives and Deaths of People with a Learning Disability and Autistic People) programme, have shown that people with a learning disability die on average up to 24 years earlier than the general population, often due to preventable causes. It was determined that healthcare providers require greater awareness and training to better support this group and improve their health outcomes.
North East Ambulance Service is proud to be the first ambulance service in the country to work towards achieving the Learning Disability and Autism Diamond Standard for this work.
Karen continues: “It’s important to us that all of our crews receive the best training to support patients across the region, and it’s vital that our response is able to be tailored to their needs. Whether it’s language barriers, cultural and faith differences, or learning disabilities and autism, no patient is ever the same and no response is ever ‘one-size-fits-all’.
“I’m so incredibly proud that our service is doing the all-important and pioneering work to make sure barriers to health equality across the North East are being challenged, and I am truly thankful to our patients, their carers and loved ones, who have been so invested in supporting us with this work, and our specialist partners for helping us develop this training for our crews.”
Co-Produced, Ambulance-Specific Training
The Trust engaged with experts by experience through three regional workshops, where participants shared their experiences—positive and negative—of using the ambulance service. Their insights helped shape both the Learning Disability and Autism Ambulance Diamond Standards and the new education package being rolled out to all staff.
"We wanted to help ambulance staff understand us, so they can help us," said Mica Hoare from Independent Voices, Redcar and Cleveland, who was involved in the project. "Everybody needs to be aware of people with a learning disability."
Kirsty Greenwell, network facilitator for North East & Cumbria Learning Disability and Autism Network, said: "We were delighted to collaborate with the North East Ambulance Service, Inclusion North and Skills for People to develop an ambulance sector specific piece of work. Co-production with experts with lived experience has been at the heart of this project. With our aims to improve the lives and experiences of people with a learning disability and autistic people."
It will become part of the Trust’s statutory and mandatory training programme from 2025/26. The North East & North Cumbria Learning Disability and Autism Network has been a vital partner in supporting the Trust to develop a bespoke, sustainable, and meaningful programme that goes beyond compliance and delivers real impact.
Structured, Sustainable, and Meaningful
The training programme has been designed to be delivered to the whole entire workforce of the ambulance service. It focuses on sector specific experiences and scenarios.
It will become part of the Trust’s statutory and mandatory training programme from 2025/26. The North East & North Cumbria Learning Disability and Autism Network has been a vital partner in supporting the Trust to develop a bespoke, sustainable, and meaningful programme that goes beyond compliance and delivers real impact.
Looking Ahead
This initiative reflects the commitment of the ambulance Trust to ensuring people with a learning disability and autistic people are not only seen and heard, but valued. The voices of those who shaped the programme will now influence how care is delivered across the region—and potentially across the country.
Hayley is mam to son, Harrison, who has additional learning needs and who has used the ambulance service for his care in the past. She provided a key insight into the needs of carers and families of those with learning disabilities and autism. Speaking to the service, she said: “The reason I helped with the development of this training was to help healthcare professionals understand from carers perspective of what is needed to make sure our children are getting the right support.
“I’m hoping that this training will give us a better experience and give healthcare professionals a better understanding of what we as carers go through and the feelings that we have around the healthcare needs of our children, and the advocacy that we go through just to get our children cared for and their needs met.”
Going Digital
The service is also preparing to launch their communications guide for patients with learning disabilities on a smartphone app, making access to this vital tool easier for crews on the road.
The updated communication support guide will make it simpler to use easy-read images to help triage people with learning disabilities and make communicate more effective.
In an emergency, clear communication can save lives and help improve treatment, outcomes, obtain consent and keep people safe. But for some, words can be a barrier. That’s why the ambulance service co-developed the image-based guide to support patients to express pain, symptoms, needs, and feelings quickly and clearly.
The guide includes:
- Easy-read pictures for common symptoms and needs
- Simple, accessible layout
- Access to a range of other communication tools including BSL, language line and more
You can access the North East Ambulance Service’s disability learning zone for easy-read information and videos on the service, how to use it, and what to expect from our crews and call handlers, on their website: https://
Watch our featured videos:
- Hayley & Harrison – https://youtu.be/1qw8gKJ7cSM
- Snapshot – https://youtu.be/-bEbst4iDBA