Sheffield Mencap was commended at the Smiley Charity Film Awards on 20 March for their film, Supporting Learning Disability Patients: Easy Changes.
This year marks the eighth year of the awards with a host of stars attending including TV and radio presenter Lisa Snowden hosting the event alongside Una Healy, AJ and Curtis Pritchard and Ekin Su in attendance.
The project first started after Sheffield Mencap applied for funding to produce a series of health videos in 2024 working alongside local GP practices to try to improve health outcomes for patients with a learning disability.
Sheffield Mencap reaches countrywide audience
This particular film has had a wide reach, receiving over 45,000 views on YouTube. Speaking about this, Carol Cook, fundraising and marketing manager at Sheffield Mencap, said: “We were so happy that the film had that many views because that meant for us that we knew the film had been shared and viewed much wider than Sheffield.”
The film was co-produced by people with learning disabilities to ensure its authenticity.
Health services senior manager at Mencap, Kelly Daubney, said: “We designed this video to be short, engaging and full of easily actionable steps that busy healthcare professionals can implement straight away. It’s an honour to have been nominated, and we hope the film continues to reach more people, improving healthcare practices across the UK.”
Cook spoke about the fact that “people with learning disabilities experience profound health inequalities”.
Health inequalities and learning disabilities
She added that there is a “huge difference” in the median age of death. The Learning Disabilities Mortality Review found that this is 84 years old for people without a learning disability, compared to those with a disability which is just 63 years old, with 43% of these deaths being deemed as preventable.
Cook added that “there are real issues with people with learning disabilities not necessarily getting the specialist or personalised care that they need”.
Previously, all GPs were targeted to complete annual health checks with 75% of people with a learning disability on their registers. However, very recently the UK government removed that target from their NHS plan. Cook described this as “really concerning” and added “that’s the kind of work that gets left behind”.
Health project co-ordinator at Mencap, Kate Brockley, attended the awards. She said:“Even though a charity may be a big one, there are actually so many others that are doing the exact same things maybe on a more local level and the awards just raise awareness of these.”
Staff at Sheffield Mencap were complimentary of the city’s third sector. Brockley said: “We utilise each other’s strengths to make a better outcome.”
