Children and young people with intellectual and developmental disability receive unsafe and lower-quality care in emergency departments due to staff lack of training in reasonable adjustments and overstimulating environments

What was found

• Significant increases in staff knowledge, skills, and experience in providing safe and quality care for children with intellectual and developmental disability
• Evidence of practice change reflected in themes from parent interviews, staff interviews, and observational studies
• Staff motivation increased to undertake quality improvement projects and develop in-house training programmes
• Local champions emerged to support sustained improvements in safety and quality of care

Who it was tested with: Healthcare staff in a paediatric emergency department (131 staff in pre-survey, 89 in post-survey) and parents of children and young people with intellectual and developmental disability.