Today, 12 May 2026, LOUD wrote to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting MP, to raise urgent concern about the continued inaction to confront the loss of the RNLD skill set from the workforce in the South East of England.
LOUD is an Expert by Experience group at Canterbury Christ Church University, made up of people with learning disabilities who work alongside health professionals and academics to improve education and research. Many of you in this community will recognise the issue immediately. No universities situated in our region are currently training new learning disability nurses. There is no workforce commissioning in place to rebuild the pipeline. The consequences are already being felt.
LeDeR data tells part of the story — women with a learning disability still dying 23 years earlier than the general population, with around half of all deaths deemed avoidable. But our letter puts member voices at the centre:-
- People being refused access to a learning disability nurse during hospital admissions.
- People falling between services with no clinical ownership.
- People unable to raise complaints through inaccessible routes.
Our three asks of the Secretary of State are a workforce review focused on the South East, a dedicated workforce strategy with Kent and Medway as a named priority, and reinstatement of the expectation that every NHS hospital and GP surgery has access to a qualified learning disability nurse — not a social prescriber.
The letter is copied to all 18 Kent and Medway MPs. Both a full letter and an Easy Read version can be found below.
We have asked for a response ahead of Learning Disability Week, 15–21 June. We will share any reply we receive.
Daniel Marsden, Senior Lecturer, Canterbury Christ Church University Vanessa Cowley, Co-Chair, LOUD
