Background: In response to multiple United Kingdom investigations and inquiries into the care of adults with\nlearning disabilities, Mencap produced the Getting it Right Charter which campaigned for the appointment of a\nLearning Disability Liaison Nurse in every hospital. More recent best practice guidelines from the Care Quality\nCommission included the need for all childrenâ??s units to have access to a senior learning disability nurse who can\nsupport staff and help them manage difficult situations. However, little evidence exists of the extent of learning\ndisability nurse provision in childrenâ??s hospitals or the nature and impact of this role. Here we report selected\nfindings from a national mixed methods study of hospital care for children and young people with and without\nlearning disabilities in England. The extent of learning disability nurse provision in childrenâ??s hospitals is described\nand perceptions of staff working in hospitals with and without such provision is compared.\nMethods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior staff across 15 childrenâ??s hospitals and an\nanonymous survey was sent to clinical and non-clinical staff with patient (children and young people) contact\nwithin these hospitals. The survey focused on six different elements of care for those with and without learning\ndisability, with additional questions concerning identifying and tracking those with learning disabilities and two\nopen-ended questions.\nResults: Forty-eight senior staff took part in interviews, which included a subset of nine nurses and one allied\nhealth professional employed in a dedicted learning disability nurse role, or similar.\nSurveys were completed by 1681, of whom 752 worked in a hospital with dedicated learning disability nurse\nprovision. We found evidence of limited and varied learning disability nurse provision which was valued by hospital\nstaff and shown to positively impact their perceptions of being capable to care for children and young people with\nlearning disabilities, but not shown to increase staff perceptions of capacity or confidence, or how children and\nyoung people are valued within the hospital, their safety or access to appointments.\nConclusion: Further consideration must be given to how learning disability nurse roles within childrenâ??s hospitals\nare best operationalised in practice to have the greatest impact on staff and families, as well as how we monitor\nand evaluate them to ensure they are being utilised effectively and efficiently.
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