It's Mencap's Activism Week and we've launched a campaign sharing the key message that "simple adjustments make a big difference to patients" with learning disabilities.

Our Trust is very active working with our partners to ensure we provide the best care for our patients with learning disabilites. And in the coming weeks CHFT Weekly will be highlighting some of them.

Our Matron, Amanda McKie, (pictured front row, third right) heads up our working group which meets monthly with members from Mencap, Kirklees Council, Cloverleaf advocacy and members of Kirklees Involvement network self advocacy group, with support from Regional campaign manager Stephen John.

They met with our Chair Philip Lewer and Chief Operating Officer Jackie Murphy to share some of the work they've done so far, including the development of an easy read Friends and Family Test survey which they co-created with people with learning disabilities to ensure they could give feedback on their care, and help us prioritise our improvements.

Jackie said: “It’s a real honour to be involved in these group meetings. It’s such a valuable opportunity to make sure what we do here at CHFT for patients with learning disabilities is a collaboration with them, and they are a total joy to work with as a group”.

Amanda said: "Treat Me Well is all about better communication, more time and clearer information. It's really just about simple adjustments make a big difference. We know our colleagues generally do this without a second thought and we also have also made special adjustments in some areas to improve still further."

You can follow the group on twitter @CHtreatmewell

** Amanda also deserves a well done for being a runner-up in Activist of the Year. She has 25 years of experience helping people with a learning disability and has worked within a hospital setting for 10 years. 

Amanda is a great activist in her hospital and people who work with Amanda say she inspires other people to do their job better.