Andy Nazarjuk and colleagues discuss the role in nurse training of a simulated hospital department in which the patients are played by people with learning disabilities

In 2010, the introduction of Nursing and Midwifery Council standards for pre-registration nurse education at Canterbury Christ Church University, Kent, prompted the university to evaluate the learning disability element of its adult nursing curriculum. This evaluation revealed that students were learning little from the existing approach to education and so the university decided to develop simulated practice involving people with learning disabilities. This article reports on the introduction of several innovative teaching sessions in which service users acted as patients. Evaluations of the simulation demonstrate that everyone involved has benefitted from them.