Dale Nixon

The Telford model: inspiring new leaders in learning disability nursing

Supporting and mentoring learning disability nursing students can be rewarding for all parties, but the challenge is to ensure that the process is robust and effective. The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) standards for entry to the register require that all nursing students are competent in the four domains of professional values; communication and interpersonal skills; nursing practice and decision-making; and leadership, management and team working. Providing nursing students with the opportunity to practise and become competent in these domains formed the basis of the Telford model’s development. This article describes the model and explains how it works in practice, using the experiences of nursing students and their mentors. The article also shows how implementing the model can improve students’ competence and confidence while increasing placement capacity, which easily matches the new NMC standards to support learning and assessment in practice.