This blog has been contributed by Tim Buck, Consultant Nurse, Learning Disabilities, East London NHS Foundation Trust.
National reports have recently highlighted the difference that registered learning disability nurses make in reducing health inequalities. Although, ask anyone working in this proud field of practice and they will tell you this information is not new. Learning disability nurses have existed for over 100 years. However, the number of people choosing to study for a career in becoming a Registered Nurse Learning Disabilities (RNLD) continues to decline, leading many universities to close their pre-registration RNLD courses. There are many factors influencing the career choices of potential student RNLDs. One could argue that some of the high profile media stories focussing on financial reward and quality issues in certain areas can detract attention from the positive work that goes on every day. I am taking this opportunity to reflect on my career journey in the hope that it might inspire others to choose a similar path.
My career journey so far
I’ve been a RNLD since 2011 and like many colleagues entering the field of learning disability nursing, I started my career as a healthcare assistant. Therefore, I always say my career began in 2003, as having that prior experience was invaluable and helped me know what to expect from the field of practice.
I’m a creative person and was originally studying art when I left school. I was attending Art College during the week and supporting residents in their own home on evenings and weekends, with all aspects of their daily lives. I loved the variety of the job and the relationships I built with the people that lived there. I soon realised that I was looking forward to my support work shifts much more than college, so I left my course to work full-time in that role. My experiences supporting people to access their local community service influenced my career decision-making, as I saw first-hand the great work learning disability nurses were doing. I have never looked back.
I needed to undertake some additional qualifications for entering a nursing programme, so I completed an NVQ in Care and along with my experience as a healthcare support worker I was delighted to be accepted to study nursing at the University of York. Something that excited me about nursing as a profession was the opportunity to move around and work in other areas of the country. Once I qualified, after a period of working two part-time jobs in a respite service and brain injury services in Yorkshire, I moved to London.
I have had the pleasure of working in a wide variety of roles in the community, inpatient and acute liaison services. When colleagues ask me for career advice I always tell them not to be afraid of trying something different as you always learn from the experience. Working in a variety of settings gives you invaluable insight into of the varying needs of people with learning disabilities and also how systems work together.
I have now completed a master’s degree and have had the opportunity to work in a senior safeguarding role. I have also been fortunate to work part-time on secondment within a local University’s Nursing Department. All of these experiences have taken me outside of my comfort zone but allowed me to experience different ways of working and learn new skills which have helped me support those in my care even better.
Why choose the Consultant Nurse pathway?
There are so many different roles within learning disability nursing, it can sometimes be difficult to choose where you want to work. Consultant Nurses have existed for over 20 years now, so I can’t suggest that it’s a completely different way of working. However, becoming a Consultant Nurse required me to move out of my comfort zone as it’s an alternative route to a traditional managerial role and requires working within the four pillars of advanced practice; Expert Practice, Strategic and Enabling Leadership, Learning, developing and improving across the system & Research and Innovation (NHS England, 2023).
You also have the opportunity to remain engaged with clinical practice whilst working strategically in a leadership role. I can’t put enough emphasis on the importance of a community of practice and I’m keen to support the development of colleagues through shared learning, supervision and supporting professional networks which I do every day. This gives me the opportunity to use creativity to think of ways to engage people with learning disabilities, and in doing this we can work together to make a change for much larger audience.
References
LeDeR (2022) Learning from Lives and Deaths – people with a learning disability and autistic people (LeDeR). King’s College London. Found at: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/research/leder (accessed August 2024).
NHS England (2023) Consultant-level practice capability and impact framework (accessed August 2024).
RCN (2022) Connecting for Change: for the future of learning disability nursing. Royal College of Nursing. Found at: https://www.rcn.org.uk/Professional-Development/publications/connecting-for-change-uk-pub-009-467 (accessed August 2024).
