Kent and Medway moves to protect future of learning disability nursing

Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust, working in partnership with NHS organisations across the region, is launching a new Learning Disability Nursing Shared Decision-Making Council to strengthen the future of learning disability nursing and ensure people with learning disabilities continue to receive high-quality, specialist care.

A decline in learning disability nurses nationally, alongside no local university training route in the South East, has raised concerns about the future supply of specialist support for people with learning disabilities across Kent and Medway. In response, NHS partners are taking action to strengthen recruitment, improve retention, and develop workforce opportunities across the system.

The council will bring together learning disability nurses from across Kent and Medway to support workforce development, improve career pathways, and ensure the profession has a stronger voice in shaping services and future care delivery.

Julie Kirby, Acting Chief Nurse at Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust, said: “We know that people with a learning disability experience significantly poorer health outcomes and in many cases die 19–20 years earlier than the general population. For people with profound learning disabilities, this gap can be even wider due to complex health needs.

“As a system, we are committed to improving these outcomes by ensuring people can access the right care, at the right time, from appropriately trained professionals.

“We have listened to our learning disability nurses and worked with them to shape this response. Their expertise is essential in helping us improve services and reduce inequalities.

“This council represents an important step forward in ensuring learning disability nurses are directly involved in decision-making and workforce planning across our region.”

Learning disability nurses play a vital role across both physical and mental healthcare services. They support people with learning disabilities to access the care they need, improve communication between patients and healthcare professionals, and help reduce inequalities in health outcomes.

The initiative follows engagement work with learning disability nurses across Kent and Medway, led by the trust, which highlighted the importance of strengthening workforce support, improving professional development opportunities and ensuring long-term sustainability of the specialist workforce. Feedback from nurses has been shared with chief nurses and regional NHS leaders and has directly informed the development of the council.

The Learning Disability Nursing Shared Decision-Making Council will provide a structured forum for collaboration across organisations, enabling nurses to contribute directly to workforce planning, service development and improvement activity across the system.

George Matuska, Learning Disability Nurse and Autism Lead at Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust, said: “This council creates a stronger, more connected professional voice across Kent and Medway. It will enable nurses to share expertise, influence service development and help improve outcomes for people with learning disabilities.

“By working together across organisations, we can build more consistent support for patients and strengthen opportunities for the workforce.”

The council forms part of wider workforce planning across Kent and Medway, including work to explore future training routes, strengthen recruitment and retention, and improve career development opportunities for learning disability nurses.

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