People with a learning disability continue to face health inequalities and barriers to accessing care. East Kent Mencap is proud to partner with Canterbury Christ Church University to assist student doctors and nurses with their training.
This valuable opportunity provides doctors and nurses with a better understanding of how to communicate and assess people with a learning disability when they access health services.
GOLD Project Manager, Fiona Wonford said, “It is crucial that people with a learning disability have the same access to care as everyone else and we know that supporting doctors and nurses training is key to improving the lack of understanding around learning disabilities.”
Our Swale Hub recently attended the Canterbury Christ Church University student nurses training at Medway for the first time. GOLD (Getting On with Learning Difficulties) project, Herne Bay and Thanet Housing went to the student doctors training in Canterbury.
Fiona shared, “Our members feel empowered knowing that they are not only helping the students with their training but that they are improving their lives when they access health services in the future.”
Daniel Marsden, Senior Lecturer & Professional Lead Learning Disabilities, Canterbury Christ Church University, said, “The Simulated Hospital Admission is a format to ensure that Canterbury Christ Church Nurses get to learn about caring and supporting people with learning disabilities from the experts, in this case those from East Kent Mencap. This enables our students to identify how to make ‘reasonable adjustments’, adapting and augmenting their communication to enable people to make decisions about their healthcare.”
Rosie a member of GOLD, said, “It was my first time taking part in the student training. I really enjoyed it; the nurses were very friendly. It made me feel good to take part and know that in the future when I go to the hospital it will help me.”
With more people with a learning disability attending this important training, the students are experiencing working with a range of learning disabilities. Thank you to everyone involved.
