The role of a Registered Mental Health Nurse or Learning Disability Nurse is to build effective relationships with service users, their relatives and carers. The role might involve helping one person to take their medication correctly, and in the same shift, could involve giving advice about relevant therapies or social activities. Success comes from being able to build trusting relationships quickly and to help individuals understand their situation and get the best possible outcome. Registered Mental Health Nurse or Learning Disability Nurse are trained about the legal context of their work and will also be able to identify when/ whether someone might be at risk of harming themselves or someone else.
A Registered Mental Health Nurse and Learning Disability Nurse are usually based in hospitals, for example on a psychiatric ward or specialist unit. Or they could be based in the community working in a health centre or making home visits. There are also Registered Mental Health Nurses and Learning Disability Nurses that work in a residential setting, this might include working different shifts to provide 24-hour care.
They work as part of a team which includes:
- GPs
- Psychologists
- Social Workers
- Psychiatrists
- Occupational Therapists
- Arts Therapists
- Healthcare Assistants
LYPFT are proud of their nursing staff, and they also aspire to be a learning organisation. Their commitment to being a learning organisation requires them to invest and improve their research and development career routes for nursing. This includes:
- A highly regarded preceptorship programme
- Access to their renowned Andrew Sims education centre
- Access to nursing conferences
- The Mary Seacole leadership programme
- Nurse rotation opportunities
- Support for NMC revalidation
- Clinical supervision
