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This month we were invited to speak in Cardiff at the RCN Wales leadership summit, the theme of which was to raise the profile of learning disability nursing and to celebrate the amazing work that they do. We spoke about Paul, and why we do what we do. We shared our belief that his outcome could have been so different if there had been learning disability nurses in place, both in primary and secondary care, and if any of the awareness training and tools that are now available, had been in use. There are many challenges facing the profession including a fall in number of students training in the field and these were explored along with hearing about excellent practice and hope for the future.
It was great to hear our name being raised on more than one occasion and to know that the work we do is valued and appreciated. It was also lovely to meet with like-minded people, and with friends, old and new.
We met this month also with one of the liaison nurses who is doing an amazing job supporting people with learning disabilities, but who is also training lots of Learning Disability Champions in different parts of the health board. One area we discussed was the fall in number of students training in the profession. She has been invited to speak in local schools and colleges to raise the profile of this great career, which is a fantastic opportunity.
One thing we shared in our talk at the summit was some amazing feedback that we had asked the liaison nurses to share with us, so here are some examples:
“You have changed his life and my life through your interventions, as he can now live independently. He is thriving, and part of the community where he lives.”
“Massive thank you for everything you did to make the hospital stay go so smoothly, it really helped reduce their anxiety levels, all the staff were so understanding and treated them with such care and attention. The NHS at its best for sure, where would we be without you all.’
“We’re so grateful for the reasonable adjustments that the liaison nurse helped us to arrange. Couldn’t have done it without her”.
“At times, I felt like I was banging my head against the wall, that was until the LD nurses came along and saved my sanity!!”
We are so grateful to all the liaison nurses for the amazing work that they do, thank you!
At the end of the month, we attended a seminar which was discussing the report on “The overview of mortality amongst people with a learning disability from 2012-2022″. It was a really interesting discussion showing how much work there is still to do as sadly this report showed that people with a learning disability in Wales are still dying 20 years younger than the general population. We discovered during this meeting that Welsh Government have now stated that Annual Health Checks must be part of the GP contract and that every practice must offer them. Although we are delighted with this first step, we will continue to campaign for quality AHCs as anything else is just a tick box exercise, and we know that quality AHCs really do save lives.
Thank you for all your ongoing support.
From everyone at the Paul Ridd Foundation
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