I had a heart attack, why didn’t I know?

My name is Leroy Binns, and I work in the Campaigns team at Mencap. Fifty-three years ago my mum was told by the doctors that she should not expect her son to live past 10 years old. But what do doctors know, I'm still here!

I do as an adult still have a lot of health problems, so I have to go to my doctors about twice a month. I have had diabetes since 2004. At first I did not like having diabetes; I just wished that it would go away. It took a lot of getting used to.

I have found it hard to look after myself. There is still a long way to go, but I'm getting there because I know that it is not going to go away so I have to find a way to deal with it. I have also lost my vision in my left eye though glaucoma. I am very hard of hearing and I have to wear two hearing aids.

Because I have to go to the doctors a lot I have had lots of experiences - good and bad - with support for my healthcare. You can find out more about what Mencap wants to change so people with a learning disability have better healthcare.

Last year I was told by a hospital doctor that in 2012 that I'd had a mild heart attack. I asked why I wasn't told about this when it happened. The doctor said to me that I had been told.

He showed me the letter that another doctor had written to me. The letter used a lot of medical jargon to describe what had happened. I think only doctors would know and understand these words. The doctor hadn't explained to me properly at the time what the letter meant.

I was very upset about knowing I had had a heart attack. I felt annoyed and frustrated that I hadn't known, or that the doctor hadn't checked that I had understood what had happened to me. If I was told in an accessible way back in 2012 I could have done something about it then.

Mencap has resources for people who work in healthcare about having patients with a learning disability.

I wrote a letter with the help of Mencap about this because I felt something had to be done. I don't want any person with a learning disability to go though what I had.

All doctors need to talk to people in an accessible way so they can understand what's being said to them. They should not use medical jargon, but give information to people in a way that can explain what has happened or will happen to them in the best way for them.

The best way of all is to have easy read information. There is a really good website for people with a learning disability to get accessible information called easy health.

My diabetes nurses and doctors always explain things in an understandable way. They talk to me one to one and are polite. They explain things about health risks and how to use my medicine. They check that I understand what they have said.

I think it's very important that the government put more money into the NHS so that doctors and nurses learn more about treating patients with a learning disability.

All doctors and nurses need training about how to treat people with a learning disability in a better way than they do at the moment. People with a learning disability should be the ones giving the training so that doctors and nurses can understand all people with a learning disability are individuals and we need to be communicated with in a way that we understand!