About IHAL

The Learning Disabilities Observatory was set up, in April 2010, as a three year programme following one of the recommendations of the Report of the Independent Inquiry into Access to Healthcare for People with Learning Disabilities, the Michael report.

It is a collaboration between the three organisations: the NHS North East Public Health Observatory based at the Wolfson Research Institute at the University of Durham Stockton campus, the Centre for Disability Research at the University of Lancaster and the National Development Team for Inclusion.

The name, Improving Health and Lives, was suggested for the Observatory together with its sister project the Confidential Enquiry into the Deaths of People with Learning Disabilities, at a consultation with self-advocates organised for the Department of Health by Mencap.

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