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Guernsey will be able to train Learning Disability and Mental Health Nurses locally in the future after a new Open University course secured Nursing and Midwifery Council approval.
The Institute of Health & Social Care Studies provides Adult Nurse Training but does not currently provide training in this field of practice.
Guernsey currently has 21 learning disability nurses employed throughout the service, of which only one was born in Guernsey. There are four others, also born in Guernsey, who now work in different parts of the organisation, however all of these had to go off island for their training.
Mandy Mackelworth, Service Manager of Adult Disability Services, said the absence of local training had clearly been a barrier to access.
"Many of those studying Learning Disability or Mental Health nursing are mature students with families, so our primary aim was that student nurses did not have to go off island to study, or if they did it would only be for a short placement," she said. "The Open University are so used to teaching students remotely that their offer was a perfect solution for Guernsey.
Pictured: The Open University's Learning Disability nurse training was approved by the NMC in Milton Keynes in early March 2020.
"Being able to grow our own Learning Disability and Mental Health Nurses is a fantastic step forward for these service areas. Not only will we be able to cut down on expensive recruitment costs, with career development opportunities available, we will be able to retain more local staff in post."
The Open University already ran general and Mental Health nurse training remotely in the UK but Learning Disability nursing was new for them too. Their Learning Disability nurse training was approved by the NMC in Milton Keynes in early March 2020.
Having received endorsement from the NMC in the last few weeks, steps have been taken to finalise plans for the courses to run in Guernsey from February 2021.
"HSC has had 8 learning disability and mental health students on an access to nursing course with the Open University over the last 12 months who are interested in progressing," said Ms Mackelworth. "This has given time for people to become familiar with remote study with the Open University and to ‘test out’ how that works in practice before progressing to the nursing course.
"There will be a robust application and recruitment process in partnership with service users and the Open University for five places (across Learning Disability and Mental Health) each year. There is already interest from more than 15 people who would like to apply for the five places for the course beginning in February 2021 so there is likely to be stiff competition for places."
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