Introduction
Learning disability nurses play a vital role, working with people with learning disabilities across the whole lifespan in both health and social care settings. By working with people and their families, and putting the individual at the centre of everything they do, these nurses lead the way in achieving positive health and social outcomes for people with learning disabilities.
The role includes improving or maintaining a person’s physical and mental health, reducing barriers to individuals living an independent life, and supporting people to live a fulfilling life. Registered nurses – learning disability can also help support people to learn and acquire the skills needed to find work, which can be significant in helping them to lead a more independent and healthy life.
Learning disability nurses ar undertake aspects of assessment and treatment/interventions. They also undertake specific projects and service development initiatives, are involved in raising the profile of learning disabilities and teaching/educating other healthcare professionals about them, and are involved in supervising/mentoring student nurses and others
Senior learning disability nurses can work in and lead clinical teams, or work in education or research roles. In clinical teams, they usually hold a level of clinical leadership or case-holding and will oversee and delegate nursing duties to others in the team. They will have some responsibility for audits and service improvements that reflect and seek to improve the quality of service provision.
Salary, hours and benefits
| Average salary | £24,907 – £30,615 |
| Typical hours | Standard hours are usually around 37.5 hours a week. |
| You could work | Shifts, which could involve nights, early starts, evenings, and weekends. Some roles may involve office hours. |
| Benefits |
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What you’ll do
Learning disability nurses focus on managing people’s needs over a longer time, often having to be creative to achieve results.
Day-to-day tasks
Your day-to-day duties may include:
- working both individually and in a team to improve or maintain a person’s physical and mental health,
- helping to reduce barriers to individuals living an independent life,
- supporting the person in living a fulfilling life,
- helping individuals to gain the skills needed to find work,
- being an advocate for people with a learning disability.
Working environment
Learning disability nursing is an immensely flexible, dynamic, and rewarding profession, and involves providing person-centred care and holistic care and support in a variety of settings, including hospitals, day centres, general practice surgeries, and people’s homes. Nurses can also work in schools, performing research, developing nursing policy, or teaching.
Characteristics and skills required
Nursing is based on around six Cs: care, compassion, communication, competence, commitment, and courage.
Following your training, you will have achieved the necessary competencies to enter the Nursing and Midwifery Council register. These skills need to be maintained through Continuing Professional Development.
You’ll need patience and highly developed, flexible communication skills. The job can be stressful and demanding, so self-awareness helps. You’ll sometimes need to be assertive and be able to advocate for people with learning disabilities.
Restrictions and requirements
You’ll need to pass enhanced background checks, as you may be working with children and vulnerable adults.
Career path and progression
Once you have progressed into a senior learning disability nursing role, you can be a subject specialist or specialist practitioner. A role at this level may involve education, conducting research, or managing and supervising a team of nurses. To continue to progress, you will need to consider undertaking Masters-level study, either following a clinical route to advanced practice or undertaking a teaching, management, or research qualification.
For some, the learning disability nursing journey may lead to a senior management role, such as director of nursing, although management qualifications would have to be undertaken to enable this. Directors of nursing (DON), also known as nurse directors, are registered nurses who assume responsibility in an administrative capacity, combining years of clinical nursing experience, education, and managerial skills to develop organisational structure and standards of care.
| Career Framework level | Role | Degree? |
|---|---|---|
| 5 and 6 | Registered Nurse – Learning Disability The registered nurse – learning disability plays a vital role, working with people with learning disabilities across the whole lifespan in both health and social care settings. By working with people and their families, and putting the individual at the centre of everything they do, these nurses lead the way in achieving positive health and social outcomes for people with learning disabilities. | Undergraduate Degree Can be delivered as an apprenticeship programme. |
| 7 | Advanced Clinical Practitioner Advanced clinical practice is delivered by experienced nurses and embodies the ability to manage clinical care in partnership with individuals, families, and carers. In the field of learning disability nursing, advanced clinical practitioners might specialise in a particular aspect of health service delivery to people with learning disabilities, such as physical health inequality, behaviour, forensics, or autism. | Master’s Degree |
| 8 | Nurse Consultant Nurse consultants, also called consultant nurses, are highly experienced nurses who have specialised in a chosen area of practice. All consultant nurse posts are firmly based in clinical and nursing practice and involve nurses working directly with patients, clients, or communities for much of their time. | Master’s Degree |
How to become a Registered Nurse – Learning Disability
To become a learning disability nurse, you will need to undertake a formal nursing programme that includes clinical placements and spend time learning the theoretical components of nursing.
Within their learning disability nurse training, students will undertake placements working with children, young people, and adults in a wide variety of settings, including specialist hospital provision, specialist community learning disability teams, social care providers, acute care settings, and specialist education provision.
Nursing degree programmes are offered full-time or via an apprenticeship route.
The entry requirements for full-time learning disability nursing degrees are set by each individual university. You’ll often need a minimum of five GCSEs at grade 4(C) or above, including maths, English, and a science (usually biology or human biology), plus two A levels or equivalent level 3 qualifications.
If you have a first degree in another subject and some health or care experience, it is possible to undertake a postgraduate qualification in learning disabilities nursing.
Apprenticeship
If you are already employed in a health or care role, it is possible to be supported by your employer to undertake a nursing degree apprenticeship. As you are learning while working, this route takes four-to-five years to complete. If you have already completed the two-year trainee nurse associate programme or two-year foundation programme to become an assistant practitioner, you can progress through a shortened degree nurse apprenticeship to become a registered nurse – learning disabilities, which will take two-to-three years.
Volunteering and experience
Experience of working or volunteering within a health or care environment is an admissions criterion for many approved education institutions. Having this experience will help you to understand the requirements of the nursing role and of your skills and abilities, as well as those you need to develop.
From within health and social care
If you are already working in the health and social care sector and you are looking for a new challenge, then you can change career to become a registered nurse within learning disability and autism support and care. You will need to undertake a formal nursing programme. If you already hold certain second-class honours degrees, you can apply to do this as a pre-registration Masters degree.
If you are considering a nursing qualification by an apprenticeship route and already have relevant prior learning and experience, you can apply for recognition of this through Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL), which may shorten the length of the apprenticeship programme for you.
From outside health and social care
If you want to work in the health and social care sector and you are looking for a new challenge, then you can change career to become a registered nurse within learning disability and autism support and care. You will need to undertake a formal nursing programme. If you already hold certain second-class honours degrees, you can apply to do this as a pre-registration Masters degree.
If you are considering a nursing qualification by an apprenticeship route and already have relevant prior learning and experience you can apply for recognition of this through Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL), which may shorten the length of the apprenticeship programme for you.
Financial support
If you take the direct-entry, full-time route into nursing, you can apply for a bursary of £5,000 – £8,000 depending on whether you meet certain eligibility criteria.
Nursing degree apprenticeships enable you to earn a salary while undertaking the nursing degree apprenticeship programme.
Once qualified and registered, if you work in an NHS organisation in London you are given an uplift in salary, known as London weighting. This is a percentage increase in your salary depending on the location of your employer within the London region.
Current opportunities
Jobs in the UK
Learning disability nursing roles can be found advertised on health or care organisation websites, or via NHS Jobs. . If you have previously trained as a learning disability nurse but have been out of practice for more than five years, you may need to undertake a return to practice programme.
Courses in England
Continuing professional development can be achieved in different ways, from undertaking self-directed study, to attending in-house study days, completing online learning, attending conferences, and undertaking formal programmes of education at a higher education institution. Your line manager and education team will be able to support you to identify learning needs and access development to address these.