COVID-19: experiences and contributions of learning disability nurses during the first wave of the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted an unprecedented level of change in service delivery across the NHS and nurses needed to adapt their practice quickly. However, to date, there has been little recognition of the challenges encountered during the pandemic by learning disability nurses. This article outlines a listening exercise that was undertaken to gather insights into the experiences and contributions of learning disability nurses during the first wave of the pandemic. Nine reflective group discussions were held via video conferencing with 26 learning disability nurses. Themes were extracted from these discussions. The findings revealed negative and positive effects of the pandemic on learning disability nursing practice. They show that learning disability nurses have responded to the pandemic with increased collaboration, creativity and commitment in an effort to maintain the health and well-being of service users. The insights gained from these reflective discussions enabled an understanding of how organisations and learning disability nurses managed the transformation of services during the first wave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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