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Tests the feasibility of an outreach clinical librarian service in an acute hospital setting, providing quality filtered research evidence at the point of clinical need. The design was based on a six‐month pilot with professional librarians attending clinical meetings responding to information needs raised there by providing appraised summaries of the published evidence, with full text and bibliographic material as appropriate. The main outcomes were usage statistics and clinicians’ evaluation via a 23‐question questionnaire completed each month seeking overall views of the service. Practical issues regarding the provision of the service were tested. Concludes that an outreach information service in the clinical setting can meet the clinical governance agenda of the Trust by supporting evidence‐based practice, teaching and learning and continuing professional development. Earlier models of service are adapted to make the service cost‐effective.

According to international conventions and UK government policy, parents with intellectual disability have a right to have children and should have access to support to help them bring them up successfully. Government good practice guidance sets out what form that support should take, but in practice parents with intellectual disability are still disproportionately at risk of having their children taken from them. This article reviews the challenges parents face in holding on to their children and the support they need, both from professionals and from the wider extended family where appropriate. The importance of having access to independent advocacy, especially in child protection or court proceedings is highlighted; such advocacy is not widely available, despite recent policy commitments in this area.

This article reports the findings of research which examined the impact that the Supporting People programme has had on housing and support for adults with learning disabilities. The issue was explored from the perspectives of local Supporting People teams, commissioners and providers of specialist learning disability social care services, and people with learning disabilities themselves.

Valuing People outlined ambitious plans for improving services for people with learning disabilities in England. Strategies to realise these goals were to be taken forward through the new structure of learning disability partnership boards, based in the first instance on local joint investment plans (JIPs). This article reports findings from an analysis of the first round of learning disability JIPs, compiled as the implementation of the White Paper began, and reviews the implications for the development of robust local strategies and action plans.

Transition to adulthood can be a difficult time for all young people and their families, but young people with learning disabilities face additional stresses. Transition for young people with learning disabilities is highly topical, in relation to both policy and practice. Legislation and guidance offer various mechanisms for improving transition, including transition planning, health action planning and Connexions personal advisers. This study of 283 families with youngsters with learning disabilities found that existing legislation and guidance were largely failing youngsters with learning disabilities and their families at transition. There were substantial discrepancies between what ought to have been provided and what young people and their families experienced in practice, and significant difficulties as youngsters moved between children's and adult health and social services. Other difficulties experienced at transition are also reviewed, along with possibilities for improvements in practice.

According to government policy, parents with learning disabilities should be provided with the support that they need to bring up their children successfully. In practice, however, their risk of having their children removed from them is high. This article reports on findings from a study designed to identify and map positive practice in supporting parents with learning disabilities and their children. It reviews the barriers confronting adults with learning disabilities who want to have and look after their children. It also describes a range of examples of positive practice, demonstrated by professionals and supporters of different backgrounds across the UK, aimed at helping adults with learning disabilities to parent successfully so that they can keep their children with them. It concludes with a discussion of what is needed to facilitate the spread of such examples of positive practice in the future.