Shortage of learning disability nurses - new survey

[Mencap_online_comms]

There is a new survey about the shortage of learning disability nurses across the UK.

Go to the survey - surveymonkey.co.uk/r/8326FXX

Please note, the survey closes on Monday 30 August at 9am.

The APPG (All-Party Parliamentary Group) on Disability is working with Harrow Mencap and the Royal College of Nursing, as well researchers and practitioners, to write a report about this. The report will be presented in Parliament and sent to the Secretary of Health and Social Care.

The survey is under 10 questions long, so hopefully it will only take between 5 and 10 minutes to complete.

Your answers will be anonymous. This means that once you finish the survey and click the ‘submit’ button, you will not be able to withdraw them from the report. This is because we won’t know which answers are yours.

[LDAutie]

ive noticed this shortage, a lot of my support staff over the years have been traianing to be a social worker nurse of some type and almost all have then chosen to go into mental health nursing, is it better paid? maybe they can relate more to people with mental illnesses or have family who have a MI?

one staff who has just joined mine said shes learning in this area and had already chosen mental health nursing i think.

its sad because they are very helpful to us.

[VictoriaCA_Mencap in reply to LDAutie]

You raise some good questions. Would be great if you could do the survey as this is exactly the kind of thing they'd like to hear about. I think it's shocking that not every hospital has a learning disability liaison nurse when they're so vital to ensuring people with LD and/or autism get good healthcare.

[LDAutie in reply to VictoriaCA_Mencap]

hi victoria ill have a go now!

it is just completely wrong, i dont know how they can keep getting away with it?

i had had contact with a LD liason nurse at a tiny hospital called trafford general hospital (the birth place of the NHS when it was called park hospital) years ago as i was having a dental appointment carried out , and she brought round different equipment like masks and photos of who woud be involved,photos of the entrance and room id be in etc, she was amazing, very dedicated and that was a tiny hospital, they also have (or did have) a PECS book in their old A&E,id never been offered that in any other manchester hospital when id been brought in without my own PECS or proloquo2go.

im dreading it all as im due big surgery in a year,miles away with a two week stay and nothing is beiing done about preparing me for it.

[VictoriaCA_Mencap in reply to LDAutie]

That LD nurse sounds amazing! Good luck with your operation next year. I take it you've asked them if they have an LD nurse? Is there a way you could speak to the hospital or your consultant and ask them for support with preparing you for the operation? I'm having an operation myself next week and in my letter from the hospital, they've given me the number of the Patient Pathway Coordinator. Might be worth you speaking to yours to see if they can offer advice. Which Hospital will you be going to, if you don't mind me asking?

[HolisticMum]

No surprises there then. I haven't met many people who even know how to talk properly to people with disabilities. They get treated as insignifigant.