Follow us
Log in
Much of the content on our site is available to our registered users only. If you're already registered, just click the 'Log in' button then enter your email address and password.
Register
If you're not already registered on the site, you'll need to do so in order to gain unrestricted access to all our content. There are two types of registration:
1. If you're a current subscriber, you can register for access to our protected content at no additional cost. You'll need your subscription number in order to complete your registration, which is on the polythene wrapper in which your journal is delivered. Click the Register button to begin your registration.
2. If you don't currently subscribe you can do so now by taking out a secure online subscription. Not only will this give you instant access to our protected online content, but you'll also get every issue of Nursing Standard - the UK's best selling nursing journal - delivered straight to your door. Click the Register button to begin your subscription and registration.
Time to raise standards of care
Last year's Panorama documentary about alleged abuse at Winterbourne View hospital, Bristol, continues to affect care provision in the UK.
Last month, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) published a second tranche of reports from its programme of unannounced inspections at hospitals and care homes for people with learning disabilities.
You may think that, having been warned that such inspections are likely to take place, organisations would have ensured that the inspectors would be impressed by the excellence of the care they provide.
However, like the first tranche of reports, which were released in December, the latest one reveals concerns about the standards of care provided to vulnerable people who are reliant on others to maintain their health and dignity (see news, page 4).
Later this year, the CQC will publish its conclusions about the overall state of this type of service. We can only hope that its findings will lead to changes in service provision that will make scandals such as that at Winterbourne View a historical anomaly, rather than a source of ongoing shame.
Meanwhile, as Learning Disability Practice went to press, a meeting of learning disability nurse lecturers was scheduled to take place at the University of Nottingham.
The meeting concerns the UK-wide Modernising Learning Disability Nursing project, which aims to safeguard the profession for future generations of people with learning disabilities who will need nursing care.
No doubt the Winterbourne View scandal will be in the forefront of the minds of the academics and government officials involved, as they work out how best to energise the profession and determine its direction.
Excellent education is vital if the nursing leadership and expertise that are so badly needed are to become commonplace throughout the UK.
Editorial | February 2012 | Volume 15 | Number 1
Our mission
Learning Disability Practice aims to inspire professional excellence by informing, supporting and educating nurses throughout their careers. Learning Disability Practice is editorially independent and the opinions expressed are not those of the RCN, nor of any contributor's employing organisation, unless specifically stated.
The RCN Publishing Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Royal College of Nursing, the world's largest organisation for nurses. RCN Publishing produces one weekly, eight monthly and two quarterly nursing publications. Nursing Standard, the flagship journal, is the UK's biggest selling weekly for nursing. It is produced by RCN Publishing Company along with a suite of specialist nursing journals - Cancer Nursing Practice, Mental Health Practice, Learning Disability Practice, Nursing Children and Young People, Nursing Management, Emergency Nurse, Nursing Older People, Nurse Researcher and Primary Health Care. RCN Publishing Company also produce the RCN Bulletin, a major source of up-to-the-minute information for RCN members in all specialities, grades and working environments. With the latest nurse vacancies from trusts nationwide, it has become the most cost-effective nurse recruitment magazine available.