Publication, Part of Health and Care of People with Learning Disabilities

Health and Care of People with Learning Disabilities, Experimental Statistics 2024 to 2025

Experimental statistics, Other reports and statistics, Official statistics in development

Publication Date:: 4 Dec 2025
Geographic Coverage:: England
Geographical Granularity:: Regions, Sub-Integrated Care Boards
Date Range:: 01 Apr 2024 to 31 Mar 2025

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Calculation Methodologies and Suppression

Data Quality Notice

NHS England had identified an issue with the data for the following indicator which was reported in the Interactive Visualisation Tool and the data csv file for this publication:

LDOB080 - Number of patients recorded on their general practice’s Learning Disabilities Register aged 14 years or over who have received an annual learning disability health check and have been provided with a health action plan, as at the end of the reporting period.

The proportion of people on the learning disability register with a heath check and health action plan was lower than expected. We have investigated the issue and found an error in the data extraction. We have therefore removed LDOB080 from the published Power BI and csv files for years 2019-20 through to 2024-25. An alternative source of this data is available for this indicator and we recommend that you refer to the Learning Disability Health Check Scheme publication for March 2025: Learning Disabilities Health Check Scheme - NHS England Digital

13 May 2026 17:06 PM

Summary

The aim of this publication is to provide information about the key differences in healthcare between people with a learning disability and those without. It contains aggregated data on key health issues for people who are recorded by their GP as having a learning disability, and comparative data about a control group who are not recorded by their GP as having a learning disability.

Two new indicators were introduced in the 2024-25 reporting year for breast cancer screening prevalence calculations.

No indicators have been removed from the 2024-25 reporting year.

Highlights

England, 2024-25

Below are the key facts from the publication. Please note that all comparisons are statistically significantly different unless stated otherwise.

Key Facts

Coverage

54.6% of patients registered in England in 2024-25 were included in the publication compared to 54.7% in 2023-24 and 55.1% in 2022-23.

Learning disability prevalence

0.55% of the patients included in this publication were recorded by their GP as having a learning disability in 2024-25 compared to 0.54% in 2023-24.

Autism prevalence

The percentage of patients who have a learning disability and an autism diagnosis has increased each year from 21.4% in 2017-18 to 33.3% in 2023-24 and 35.3% in 2024-25.

The percentage of patients without a learning disability who have a diagnosis of autism has increased from 0.5% in 2017-18 to 1.2% in 2023-24 and 1.4% in 2024-25.

Health checks

81.5% of patients with a learning disability had a Learning Disability Health Check in 2024-25 compared to 79.6% in 2023-24.

Learning disability and ADHD prevalence

The percentage of patients who have a learning disability and an ADHD diagnosis has increased each year from 5.5% in 2017-18 to 9.0% in 2023-24 and 9.8% in 2024-25.

The percentage of female patients who have a learning disability and an ADHD diagnosis is 6.0% for 2024-25 (5.3% in 2023-24) and is lower than for male patients at 12.2% (11.4% in 2023-24).

The percentage of patients without a learning disability who have a diagnosis of ADHD has increased from 0.5% in 2017-18 to 1.2% in 2023-24 and 1.5% in 2024-25.

The highest rates of ADHD are in those who are autistic. Amongst those who were autistic but with no learning disability, 21.6% had an ADHD diagnosis in 2024-25 (19.8% in 2023-24). 18.1% of those who are autistic and have a learning disability also had a diagnosis of ADHD (17.1% in 2023-24).

Prescribing - antipsychotics

13.8% of patients with a learning disability were prescribed antipsychotics in 2024-25. This is not statistically significantly different from 2023-24 (13.9%) but is a significant decrease when compared to 2022-23 (14.4%).

The percentage of patients without a learning disability who were prescribed antipsychotics has remained stable at 0.9% over the same period.

Prescribing - antidepressants

22.4% of patients with a learning disability were prescribed antidepressants in 2024-25. This is not statistically significantly different from 2023-24 (22.1%) but is a significant increase when compared to 2022-23 (21.7%).

The percentage of patients without a learning disability diagnosis and treated with antidepressants was 11.0% in 2024-25.

Learning disability and Down syndrome prevalence

10.3% of patients had a learning disability and a Down syndrome diagnosis in 2024-25. This is not statistically significantly different from 2023-24 (10.6%) but is a significant decrease when compared to 2022-23 (11.0%).

Melatonin

The percentage of registered patients under twenty-five with a learning disability who were treated with melatonin has increased from 12.8% in 2023-24 to 14.1% in 2024-25.

The percentage of patients under twenty-five without a learning disability who were treated with melatonin was lower at 0.8% (0.7% in 2023-24).

Anxiety

The percentage of registered patients with a learning disability who have a diagnosis of anxiety has increased from 9.9% in 2023-24 to 10.3% in 2024-25.

The percentage of patients without a learning disability who have a diagnosis of anxiety was lower at 5.2% (5.1% in 2023-24).

The highest rates of anxiety were in those who were autistic. 13.2% of those who had a learning disability and were autistic also had a diagnosis of anxiety in 2024-25 (12.8% in 2023-24). 12.6% of those who were autistic but without a learning disability had a diagnosis of anxiety in 2024-25 (12.0% in 2023-24).