A 24-hour postural care service: Views, understanding and training needs of referring multidisciplinary staff

Aims
To consider the views, understanding and training needs of members of a multidisciplinary team (MDT) around 24-hour postural care. These MDT members refer individuals with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) and postural care needs to a 24-hour postural care service.

Methods
This study used a mixed-methods approach, which was undertaken in two phases. The setting for this study was a community healthcare NHS trust in England, which refers patients to physiotherapy for PMLD. Phase 1 involved 57 members of the MDT including: psychologists, psychiatrists, community nurses, health facilitation nurses, speech and language therapists, and occupational therapists. Phase 2 involved a purposive sample of 14 MDT members across three profession-specific focus groups.

Findings
Phase 1 identified that around 50% of all MDT members refer to the 24-hour postural care service; the majority (75.4%) of these participants identified that they would be happy to receive more training on 24-hour postural care. Phase 2 suggested that while referrals were being made, MDT members were not able to identify why individuals should be referred to the 24-hour postural care service.

Conclusions
This study has revealed that MDT members working in a community trust within learning disability services were lacking an awareness of why individuals should be referred to 24-hour postural care. This study discusses the implications of this finding.