The Together Project: supporting the delivery of good practice in maternity services for parents with learning disabilities

Despite directives to improve maternity care in general and to improve care for parents with learning disabilities, the maternity experience of parents with learning disabilities is often poor and lacking reasonable adjustments to care, due in part to a lack of training and resources. In response, the Together Project, led by the University of Surrey, has brought together parents with learning disabilities, researchers, and health and social care professionals to co-produce resources, training, and an evaluation tool to support good maternity care for people with learning disabilities. The Together Project was inspired by Scott’s story (PDF). Scott has been a paid member of the Together Project team since 2019, his passion and vision drives the resources we have developed.

• Together Toolkit for professionals working in maternity services, to support the delivery of good care for people with learning disabilities during their pregnancy.
• Maternity Passport to be held by people with learning disabilities (or other individuals who would like an accessible maternity care plan) and to include the relevant information needed by the professionals who support them.
• Educational film that features advice and guidance from experts (by profession or experience) to support professionals working in maternity services to recognise when a parent-to-be may have learning disabilities. 
• Learning disability awareness training for student midwives: Guidance for midwifery educators including evidence-based recommendations to support implementation of learning disability awareness training within midwifery programmes.
• An accessible tool to evaluate parenting programmes for people with learning disabilities in the ante-natal period.

How to access the resources

The Together Project resources are free to use but we ask you to have regard to the following conditions of their use:

1. Do not distribute these resources to anyone else – if anyone asks for a copy please direct them to this web page so they can download them.
2. If you use these resources or any part of them, we would be grateful if you would please:
   
   1. Acknowledge the authorship team
   2. Send copies of any reports/papers that are produced to Dr Anna Cox (a.cox@surrey.ac.uk)
   3. Let us have any comments/suggestions that you feel might improve these resources so that your experience can be incorporated into subsequent updates.

Download the Together Project resources