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Improving access to health care for people with an intellectual disability

Project Summary

People with intellectual disability experience poorer health outcomes compared with the general population, partly due to the difficulties of accessing primary care. This program of work focuses on ways it may be possible to improve access to primary care for people with an intellectual disability in Australia.

The projects aim to:

  • enhance access to primary care for people with intellectual disability.
  • identify barriers and facilitators to implementing preventive health assessments in general practice for people with intellectual disability.
  • improve identification of people with intellectual disability in general practice.

Our Investigators

  • Dr Jodie Bailie
  • Dr Alison Laycock
  • Professor Ross Bailie

Collaborators

  • Professor Nicholas Lennox, University of Queensland
  • Professor Sally Hall Dykgraaf, Australian National University
  • Dr Bradley Shea, Northern NSW Local Health District
  • Dr Paul Caltabiano, University of Sydney
  • Ms Kanchana Ekanayake, University of Sydney
  • Ms Maddison Eveleigh, The University of Sydney

Status

Ongoing

What type of study is involved?

This program of research is varied and includes a range of methodological approaches.

What have been some of the findings so far?

The insights arising from the work done so far has been used to inform:

  • The National Roadmap for Improving the Health of People with Intellectual Disability an Australian government policy initiative aimed at addressing health inequity experienced by people with intellectual disability.
  • Primary Health Networks to develop training materials for improving access to general practice for people with an intellectual disability.
  • My Medicare (a new voluntary patient registration model).

Resources

Access to preventive health assessments for people with intellectual disability: a systematic scoping review informed by the Levesque Access Framework. BMC Health Serv Res. 2025 Jul

Too many miss out: improving access to preventive health checks for people with intellectual disability, Croakey. 2025 Jun

Access to general practice for people with intellectual disability in Australia: a systematic scoping review. BMC Prim Care. 2022 Nov

Improving care for people with intellectual disability: removing barriers to general practice. Primary Times, 23(1), 40-42.

Identifying barriers and facilitators to primary care practitioners implementing health assessments for people with intellectual disability: a Theoretical Domains Framework-informed scoping review. Implement Sci Communications. 2024 Apr

Increasing health assessments for people living with an intellectual disability: lessons from experience of Indigenous-specific health assessments. Med J Aust. 2021 Jul

Intellectual disability: a path to better care. Medical Journal of Australia, Insight (5th July 2021)

Making everyone count: it is time to improve the visibility of people with disability in primary care. Med J Aust. 2022 Aug

Developing self-report disability questions for a voluntary patient registration form for general practice in Australia. Aust N Z J Public Health. 2023 Apr

Factors influencing transition from paediatric to adult health care for young people with intellectual disability: A systematic scoping review. SSM – Health Systems, Volume 6, 2026

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