I work as part of a community team with a range of other health professionals and support staff. It is a great team, always looking to improve how we work and the outcomes we can achieve for our service users. I was fortunate to have trained with them too and I know that standards and expectations are high for staff members and the care we give.

We work in a rural region of England with a wide range of social and health care needs and service users vary from the very wealthy to extreme poverty. This background affects our work and the possibilities for interventions that can be completed.

As a community nurse I am responsible for my own caseload and empowered to make autonomous decisions about my day and the care I provide. This allows flexibility to fit with the needs of our service users, their families and carers.

I would like to be part of the progression of the team to maintain its evidence based and innovative care. I have been in the team long enough to begin to consider both future career progressions and the development of ideas for service improvement. I have seen how effective simple, small changes can be. As a learning disability nurse creative thinking is a key skill to have.

as part of teh Learning Disability Fellowship, I am looking forward to the small learning groups which will help me to grow in my self-belief and become a more effective nurse. I hope to be better able to put across new and novel ideas and work with other team members to make change happen. I believe that this will benefit my patients and my colleagues in the delivery of the best care and support possible.