Nine new Learning Disability and Mental Health Nurses, who will work across wards at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch and Worcestershire Royal Hospital, joined Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust on September 25 in a move that the Trust describes as "innovative".
The roles have traditionally been based in community NHS organisations, providing additional support to hospital patients and colleagues when needed. However, The Trust has opted to directly employ Learning Disability and Mental Health nurses to work alongside adult trained nurses in an acute setting.
Evidence has shown that by integrating the specialist nurses as part of the ward based teams, the care and experience of patients with learning disabilities and mental health illness can be improved.
Sarah Needham, Lead Nurse for Education and Workforce, said: “One in four patients have an acute mental health illness and Worcestershire has a higher than average prevalence of patients with Learning Disabilities, therefore we are thrilled to be leading the way in improving care in this area.
“Although our patients do benefit from the support of external specialist mental health and learning disability nurses, we feel that the additional benefits that we will be able to provide by having permanent members of staff based within our own teams will be significant.
“As well as providing holistic support to our patients, the new nurses will also share their expertise with members of the multidisciplinary team, giving them additional skills in caring for patients with additional needs. Once patients are ready to leave our care, the transfer in to community services should also be improved.”
Luke Evans, one of the new recruits, said: “I am keen to normalise mental health patients to staff, improve their mental health knowledge and enhance the experience of patients.”
The nine new nurses received a three week intensive education programme to support them in developing the skills and knowledge needed to care for patients within an acute hospital. This will be followed by a tailored 12 month support package which will include mentoring and rotation opportunities across the Trust.
New models of care which remove the barriers between mental health and other parts of the health system are being championed nationally, and the Trust claims that the introduction of the new roles tie into the Mental Health and New Models of Care developed by the King’s Fund and set out in the NHS five year forward view.