We’ve got events taking place each weekday of this year’s Learning Disability (LD) Week, beginning on Monday 20 June, including Living Life with a Learning Disability, where our staff will hear from our own LD patients about their experiences at our Trust.

To launch the week we’re holding special CPD accredited autism awareness training, run by the Sycamore Trust and their autism ambassadors. On Tuesday 21 June our Chief Nurse, Kathryn Halford, and Gary Etheridge, Director of Nursing for safeguarding, will talk about our Trust’s commitment to providing high quality of care for our LD patients, taking their additional needs into account. Kenye Karemo, our Director of Workforce Development, Education and Research, will also share our career map for LD nurses, helping them to develop their careers.

An interactive session focusing on neurodiversity, a term which includes neurodiverse conditions such as autism and dyslexia, will be held on Wednesday 22 June. It will include a discussion on LD conditions, giving insights and debunking myths with a panel of experts sharing their thoughts.

Our Living Life with a Learning Disability session will be held on Thursday 23 June where Tim Buck, Lead Nurse for LD (pictured), will be speaking to our patient partners who have learning disabilities. They’ll share their experiences at our Trust, including at where we’ve done well, and where we could improve. The pandemic highlighted health inequalities including how people with a learning disability were at a higher risk from Covid-19, so this session will help us learn more about our collective responsibility towards improving care for LD patients post-Covid.

The week will round off on Friday 24 June with Making a Positive Difference. This session will share good practice and new initiatives while also celebrating the work being undertaken at our Trust to address health inequalities and promote high quality patient care for everyone.