Watch the video to find out who has won this prestigious nursing award. Good luck to all the finalists!
The finalists for the Learning Disability Nursing Award
East Cheshire community learning disability health team
Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Ms Bagley has been responsible for implementing and supporting a multidisciplinary specialised memory clinic for people diagnosed with Down’s syndrome, a learning disability and/or autism. As well as delivering training to the multidisciplinary team, the senior practitioner developed a range of pre-assessment tools and undertakes a comprehensive pre-screening of each referral. Feedback shows that patient experience has improved. More clients have received a diagnosis of dementia and receive tailored ongoing support. Assessments are complete within an hour in collaboration with the service user, their family member or carer, and the client receives feedback and a proactive follow-up plan delivered the next day.
Michael Fullerton
Achieve Together
Mr Fullerton is the driving force behind Raising the Bar – Core and Essential Service Standards, which, for the first time, benchmark what good support looks like for adults and children with profound and multiple learning disabilities. Families, commissioners and service providers can use them to ensure support is focused on positive outcomes. Mr Fullerton sought the support of a wide range of stakeholders to develop his idea before launching them at a Raise the Bar conference. The standards have improved the support his own organisation provides, leading to improved community access and better use of assistive technology for communication. Other organisations report similar results from using the standards.
Healthcare Parc Prison team
G4S Health Services
The learning disability nurses at HMP Parc have transformed the experience of people with learning disabilities through their wide-ranging Cynnwys (inclusion) project. A specific wing has been developed to safeguard and support people with learning disabilities and autism spectrum conditions. A holistic and person-centred approach encompasses their education, complex health and sensory needs, including meaningful and therapeutic activities and behaviour management plans in a way never before achieved in a prison setting. The nurses have also built relationships to improve the transition from custody to community, and put safeguarding measures in place to reduce the risk of reoffending, harm and behaviours that challenge.
Jennifer Hudson
Ready2Shine CIC
Nurse Jennifer Hudson, along with a sexual health promotion practitioner, delivers relationship and sex education sessions to adults with learning disabilities. The sessions cover self-care, emotion management, sexuality, consent and sexual health, helping participants to make safe choices in safe relationships and safeguarding against exploitation and abuse. As well as planning and evaluating the service, Ms Hudson assesses individuals to ensure a holistic and tailored approach. Accessible resources have been created to meet the diverse range of participants’ needs. The sessions have also led to a number of participants identifying breast lumps, and accessing cervical screening and sexual health services. Training is offered to staff supporting people with learning disabilities.
Tower Hamlets community learning disability service
East London NHS Foundation Trust
Realising the service users with learning disabilities that they supported would not use traditional weight management programmes, this nurse team devised the Step-Up scheme. They supported their clients to apply for a personal health budget, which was then pooled so the group could access a specially adapted programme at a local fitness centre and receive intensive dietary advice and support. The nurses support individuals to access the programme, including home visits and activities, such as supermarket trips and deliver nutrition advice. Participants found the programme fun, interactive and they enjoyed learning about exercise from a personal fitness trainer and being active with their peers. They lost on average 4kg each.
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