Elaine Kwiatek and colleagues describe work to help undergraduates in Scotland understand the needs of this patient group

NHS Education for Scotland is working with higher education institutions and other partners to contribute to recommendations outlined in Strengthening the Commitment, the UK-wide review of learning disability nursing. This article focuses on the recommendation to help undergraduates in adult, mental health and children’s nursing to develop core knowledge and skills necessary to work safely and appropriately with people with learning disabilities in general health services.

Traditional ways to help students gain experience of caring for people with learning disabilities have tended to depend on the commitment of individual lecturers, and consequently have been inconsistent. This article describes how the ‘Thinking Space’ approach was used to support lecturers and other professionals in enabling students to achieve required outcomes regarding learning disability care, and to meet the requirements of the review’s recommendation.