In this section:
This year, why not enjoy a day out at a National Gardens Scheme garden - you'll be helping fund the QNI too!
Providing vital funding for projects that help improve patient care.
Visit our nursing heritage website, a celebration of District Nursing around the world since 1859.
Learning Disabilities Week
13 Jun 2012
Learning Disabilities Week takes place this year on 18 to 24 June across the country.
The Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI), the charity that works to improve nursing care for people in their own homes and communities, has a key role to play in the learning disability field. Each year the Institute funds a range of projects led by nurses who have innovative ideas to improve care for their patients. A significant number of these work with patients with learning disabilities.
One QNI funded project, called ‘Jigsaw’, began in Yorkshire in 2011. It developed a new parenting programme for families with children who have learning disabilities. The project seeks to give those parents extra training to help them manage their children’s conditions more effectively. Before the scheme was introduced, such resources for families in the area were very limited.
The project, led by community nurse Naomi Clasper and therapist Bron Urwin was piloted in York, but with the help of the QNI a resource pack was developed so that the scheme could be extended to Scarborough and Harrogate as well. An additional benefit of the project is that parents were able to meet one another, share ideas, and start to build a support network.
Naomi commented, ‘We helped parents to understand why their children might be behaving in a certain way, and how to communicate more effectively with them. What we try to do is to give families more understanding about the underlying reasons for certain kinds of behaviour, and the kinds of responses that are most useful in certain situations. It’s about learning from the mistakes of others, and sharing that learning with other families.’
Anne Pearson, Practice Development Manager at the QNI said, ‘Case studies from the project showed the huge difference that this extra support could make. Parents became more confident about supporting their children, and became less dependent on regular intervention by healthcare professionals. The overall aim is to make the lives of patients, their parents and other carers better.’
Other learning disability projects sponsored by the QNI have taken place in other parts of the country and with other age groups.
‘Fit for Life’ is a project that helps to improve the physical fitness of adults with learning disabilities in North Devon. Those with learning disabilities are frequently excluded from participation in general exercise opportunities, or feel intimidated by the environment. This project, led by community nurses and supported by the QNI, created a programme specifically for this user group and was instrumental in helping improve health and fitness for adults who would not otherwise have had this opportunity.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
The QNI funds local projects led by community nurses through its Fund for Innovation and Leadership. Applications are due in October for the next round of projects starting in January 2013. More information about the QNI’s Fund for Innovation and Leadership is available from Anne Pearson, the QNI’s Practice Development Manager, anne.pearson@qni.org.uk
Learning Disabilities Week takes place this year on 18 to 24 June.
Health related and other charities across the country are organising a huge range of activities to celebrate the week.
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