17 June 2019
Staff, patients and carers at Shropshire’s two acute hospitals attended a workshop today (Monday) to mark Learning Disability Week 2019.
At the Learning Disability Workshop, from left, Karen Breese (Dementia Clinical Nurse Specialist and organiser of the workshop) Sonia Bradburn (Student Disability Nurse), Ruth Smith (Associate Director Nursing at SaTH for Quality, Patients and Experience), James Hudson, Clair Challenor (both of Joint Training) and Josephine Appoi (Student Disability Nurse).
Learning Disability Week (17-23 June) is an annual event which aims to raise awareness of the 1.4 million people in the UK with a learning disability, and to help educate others to understand what a learning disability is and is not.
The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), which runs the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford and the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, is committed to providing a responsive service that recognises the needs of patients and makes reasonable adjustments to their care to ensure they have the best experience possible.
Today’s Learning Disability Workshop was held in partnership with Shropshire Community Health Trust, Shropshire Council and the Midlands Partnership Foundation Trust. It was an information sharing event based around discussion and the telling of personal stories.
Discussion centred around ‘what values do you think are important when working with a learning disability?’ while also highlighting the importance of ‘The Patient Passport’ and a ‘one page profile’ – both of which give hospital staff important information about individual patients.
Karen Breese, Dementia Clinical Nurse Specialist at SaTH, organised the event through her passion of helping people with cognitive impairments.
She said: “Providing the very best and equal care to all of our patients is something we strive to achieve every day of the year.
“Learning Disability Week is an excellent opportunity for us to have really important conversations, and to ensure we all understand what it means to have a learning disability.
“I would like to say a big thank you to all the organisations, staff and visitors involved during the workshop.”
The workshop included information stands from The Shrewsbury and Telford Health Libraries, The Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Enable (employment support for people with learning disabilities) and SaTH’s Dementia Services Team.
For further information about Learning Disability Week, please visit www.mencap.org.uk