20/08/2025
Health Minister Launches Learning Disability Service Consultation
The Health Minister, Mike Nesbitt, has launched a 14-week public consultation on a new learning disability service model for Northern Ireland. The document, titled We Matter, outlines a three-year roadmap for transforming services and aims to support people with a learning disability to live the lives they choose.
The model is designed to standardise the provision of adult learning disability services across the region. It defines what good support should look like and signals the kind of system changes required to improve people's experience of services, from enhanced mental health care to better support for carers and accessible housing.
Minister Nesbitt described the document as a "platform for change" that will help support service improvement and partnership working across health, education, and other key services. He added that a fully costed implementation plan would enable the Department and HSC Trusts to "better commission the right level and blend of services to support people in the community at an earlier stage, reducing the need for acute inpatient care."
The Minister urged everyone to respond to the consultation, particularly those with lived experience. The deadline for all responses is 5pm, 25 November 2025.
The model is designed to standardise the provision of adult learning disability services across the region. It defines what good support should look like and signals the kind of system changes required to improve people's experience of services, from enhanced mental health care to better support for carers and accessible housing.
Minister Nesbitt described the document as a "platform for change" that will help support service improvement and partnership working across health, education, and other key services. He added that a fully costed implementation plan would enable the Department and HSC Trusts to "better commission the right level and blend of services to support people in the community at an earlier stage, reducing the need for acute inpatient care."
The Minister urged everyone to respond to the consultation, particularly those with lived experience. The deadline for all responses is 5pm, 25 November 2025.
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Northern Ireland WeatherToday:A sunny but frosty start for many. However cloud increases by midday with a few showers reaching the north coast, these mostly light but spreading inland this afternoon. Chilly. Maximum temperature 8 °C.Tonight:A rather cloudy evening with scattered showers. Becoming drier through the night with some good clear spells developing and a patchy frost away from coasts. Minimum temperature 0 °C.