RCN publishes recommendations to save learning disability nursing workforce

People with a learning disability are often failing to have their healthcare needs “adequately” met due to a collapsing number of learning disability nurses, according to a report from the Royal College of Nursing.

The report, Safety, Equity and Expertise: A UK Review of Learning Disability Nursing, assessed the current state of learning disability nursing to understand the risks facing the profession, identify what needs to change to protect and strengthen its contribution, and make recommendations to improve its future.

The review found that the role remains as vital as ever and plays a central role in safeguarding the rights, health and dignity of people with learning disabilities. It also plays a critical role in addressing health disparities by providing expert, rights-based and person-centred care tailored to individual communication, cognitive and health needs.

Declining number of learning disability nursing applications

NHS data shows that the number of learning disability nurses has fallen by a third, while the number of students choosing to study the specialism across the UK has dropped to fewer than 500 in 2025.

The RCN says this is due to a poor understanding of the specialty, which is limiting recruitment, progression, commissioning, and the appropriate deployment of expertise. It is calling for urgent action by health leaders to address the decline in applications to the field.

• Further reading: Why we must secure the future of learning disability nurses

Published during Learning Disability Awareness Week (15 to 21 June), the report sets out the following recommendations:

• Recognise learning disability nursing as safety-critical; the profession should be explicitly protected in policy, commissioning and workforce frameworks as essential to patient safety, lawful care and health equity
• The adoption of field-specific, evidence-led workforce planning
• Stabilising and safeguarding the education pipeline
• Strengthening early career support and progression
• Making the profession’s value visible and measurable.

Learning disability nurses are poorly understood

RCN Chief Nursing Officer Professor Lynn Woolsey said: “The expertise of learning disability nurses has been poorly understood, inconsistently recognised, and insufficiently protected within health and care systems. Their contribution is repeatedly undermined and ignored in wider workforce planning and service delivery.

“This must change if we are to close the current inequity in care suffered by some of society’s most vulnerable people. People with learning disabilities deserve better. Learning disability nursing must be recognised by health leaders as the safety-critical profession it is, and workforce planning must reflect their value and importance to individuals across society.”

The report concluded that the task now is to ensure that learning disability nursing is no longer sustained by goodwill and resilience alone, but is visibly valued, strategically supported and securely positioned for the future. This requires deliberate, co-ordinated action across education, workforce planning, commissioning and professional leadership, grounded in the evidence presented in this review.

Alison Bloomer

Alison Bloomer is Editor of Learning Disability Today.

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