Individualizing Hospital Care for Children and Young People With Learning Disabilities: It's the Little Things That Make the Difference

•A model for delivering individualized care to children and young people with learning disability and their families in hospital.•Parent's played a central role in staff's delivery of individualized care to children and young people with learning disability.•A lack of staff experience, knowledge and communication about learning disability could mean they relied on parental input rather than forming a true partnership with them.•A key priority for hospital staff is understanding the “little things” that make a big difference to children and young people with learning disability and finding ways of ensuring these are addressed in the hospital environment.

This ethnographic study sought parent, patient and staff views about the needs of children and young people with learning disability and their families during hospitalization. Reported here are data from 27 staff. The need for individualized care was identified, based on gaining appropriate experience and training, identifying the population, focussing on the “little things”, creating a safe, familiar environment and accessing and using appropriate resources. Parents played a central role in staff's delivery of individualized care. A lack of staff experience, knowledge and communication about learning disability can mean they rely on parent's input rather than forming a true partnership with them.