Doctors and other health professionals will learn how to provide more effective health care for people with intellectual disability.
The federal government is giving $6.5 million to four primary health networks - Australia's independent healthcare organisations - to develop a program to improve health professionals' skills in the area.
The creation of the Primary Care Enhancement Program follows a roundtable in August 2019, focussed on the inequalities in the health system faced by people with intellectual disability.
Health information will also be developed specifically for people with intellectual disability and their families.
The government will work with the Council for Intellectual Disability to roll the program out nationally.
The disability royal commission this week heard that people with intellectual disability face a profound lifelong struggle with a health system that at times ignores and mistreats them.
A palliative care specialist, who could not be identified, said patients with intellectual disability may not understand they are receiving inadequate care nor have the ability to report it.
A WA mum also told the royal commission about the difficulties for families who do not know how to navigate medical barriers or make well-informed decisions, who to trust or when to persist in getting help.
