National survey 2009 on medical services for persons with intellectual disability in residential care in Israel

The Offi ce of the Medical Director of the Ministry of Social Affairs in Israel is responsible for the medical service in residential care centers for persons with intellectual disability (ID). A standard annual questionnaire was developed during 1997-1998, and the fi rst national survey study was conducted in 1998. The present paper presents the fi ndings of the 2009 national survey, for which the following information was gathered via questionnaires: age, gender, and level of ID of persons served at the residential care center in question, status of the population served, functional profi le, nursing, medical, and allied professional staff, number of annual examinations, preventive medicine aspects, medications, number of annual cases of infectious disease, annual unintentional injuries, number of deaths, number of hospitalizations, internal residential center hospitalization, ambulatory out-patient use, use of outside laboratory examinations, and dental care. In 2009, 7067 persons were served in nine government, 41 private, and 13 public centers. The average number of persons served per center was 112.17 (range 21-324). The survey in 2009 showed that 78 % of the population with ID in residential care in Israel was between the ages of 20 and 60 years old, 45 % with severe or profound ID, 41 % with moderate, and 13 % with mild ID. In total, 25 % were nursing patients, 19 % were confi ned to a wheelchair, 33 % had epilepsy, 87 % were found to be receiving medication daily for chronic illness, and 54 % received psychotropic medication for psychiatric illness.