At the 2023 Community of Practice Conference, Jonathan Beebee – Royal College of Nursing presented a challenging picture of the state of Learning Disability Nursing across the UK, specifically in the south east.

Being the only professional qualification associated concerned with the health and wellbeing of people with learning disabilities, the reduced opportunities to train as a learning disability nurse and data indicating the current workforce is rapidly dimishing presented a current and future concern to the Community of Practice.

To this end, we acknowledge the important role that Learning Disabilities Nurses can play in supporting people to live healthy, safe and fulfilled lives and as a consequence were keen to support Daisy Hack with this initiative.

It is widely recognised that Learning Disability Nursing workforce numbers are forecast to decrease significantly, and Learning Disability services face challenges with replacing their existing workforce. This has been highlighted in a variety of recent reports such as:

Lord Darzi’s report cited here-  Learning disabilities: what Lord Darzi says should change | RCNi

The Nursing Times- ‘Decimated’ learning disability nurse numbers must be tackled | Nursing Times

And the NHS England » NHS Long Term Workforce Plan which states the goal of increasing training places for Learning Disability nursing by 46 %, by 2028/29.

In the South East of England,  we are also significantly impacted by limited access to Learning Disability nursing programmes; with only 1 Higher Education Institute currently providing a Learning Disability Nursing course across the region.

As a result, we have created the “South East RNLD Workforce & Education Community of Practice” .

The new community is an opportunity for those affected to come together in a professional space, to review the current education & workforce challenges, to share ideas/new initiatives and to influence change.

This collaborative project is being facilitated by Daisy Hack (Learning Disability Nurse Development Lead- Sussex Partnership Foundation NHS Trust) and is supported by NHS England. 

The meetings are held online on a quarterly basis. The first meeting took place in October 2024, and the next meeting will be on 22nd January 2025 at 2pm.

The Community of Practice is open to:

• Learning Disability representatives from NHS Trusts, Social Care, and Private, Voluntary & Independent providers.
• Higher Education Institutes, Integrated Care Board and NHSE representatives across the South East region, who have Learning Disability responsibility in their portfolio.
• Any individuals working in nursing workforce/education roles (members do not need to be Learning Disability registrants to attend).

If you, or someone you know is interested in joining the CoP or would like more info please contact daisy.hack@nhs.net