Course aims to stem shortage of 'crucial' nurses

An apprenticeship course has been launched to help reverse a shortage of nurses who specialise in caring for people with learning disabilities.

The number of specialist learning disability nurses in England has reduced by almost half in the last 15 years, according to the Royal College of Nursing.

Fifteen students have now completed a course at Plymouth Marjon University in Devon aimed at mature students who want to specialise in learning disability.

Gail Wilson, senior nurse for nursing, midwifery and social care, said the nurses were "absolutely crucial", while a recent government report found people with learning disabilities in England were dying 20 years younger than others.

The 2026 report from The Learning Disabilities Mortality Review found 39% of deaths of people with learning disabilities and autism were classed as avoidable in 2023, almost twice as high as the general population.

The charity Mencap has said about 1.5m people in the UK have a learning disability which it defines as a lifelong reduced intellectual ability.

Meanwhile The Royal College of Nursing has said the number of learning disability nurses employed by NHS England fell from around 5,553 in 2009 to just over 3,095 by 2024, a reduction of approximately 44%.

Learning disability nursing now account for just 2% of all nursing students nationally, according to UCAS and the Royal College of Nursing.

Wilson said she came up with the idea for a new course to train learning disability nurses in 2021 when the number of students coming through was "absolutely withering on the vine". "We had to do something different," she said.

She said she believed there were mature students with degrees who would like to become learning disability nurses but could not afford to go back to university.

She said it was important to establish an "earn while you learn" scheme which led to Plymouth Marjon University working with the NHS to create the Aspire apprenticeship programme.

Graduate Sandra Van Meurs said the course was the "opportunity of a lifetime" for her and she now works as a registered learning disability nurse at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth.

"When this opportunity arose and it was an apprenticeship I could earn a wage still. As a mature person supporting a family that was really important," she said.

A 12-bed simulated ward at Plymouth Marjon University, set up to be exactly like a ward the students will eventually work on, is used for the course.

Student nurses practice on mannequins which simulate different conditions, while students also have access to virtual reality scenarios in an "immersive room".

Richard Kyle, professor of allied health & nursing at Plymouth Marjon University, said: "I think a lot of the success comes down to the incredible facilities we have for our students.

"They have an opportunity to practice what they will be doing when they move out into clinical practice and that means they go out with that confidence."

The course is the first of its kind in England and has been praised by NHS England as a model for addressing the critical shortage of learning disability nurses.

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