Patricia Okebu

Community Learning Disability Nurse, Guys & St Thomas’s NHS Foundation Trust, London

I work in the Lambeth Team for Adults with Learning Disabilities in the community. My role involves working with vulnerable adults with a learning disability, carrying out nursing assessments to identify their unmet health needs, liaising with other health professionals to meet these health needs, working with families and carers. My role also involves carrying out comprehensive nursing assessments and interventions with my client groups and their families/carers. During the covid pandemic, my role involved making welfare checks to my clients to ensure their safety and essential needs are in place. My role includes advocating for the provision of reasonable adjustments by liaising with the liaison nurses in hospitals. I support clients in decision making processes about their health, life and treatment by completing mental capacity assessment and following the principles of the mental capacity act. I ensure that clients are assisted to understand theirs care and treatment by presenting information in easy read format.

I believe that the Fellowship and supporting programme will benefit me by enhancing my skills as a care practitioner which in turn will enable me to provide the best of care to clients, families and carers. In terms of my leadership prospects, I believe that the Fellowship programme will boost my confidence and increase my situational awareness. In terms of my team, this programme will support my progression, help me establish networks and create a safe place where I can explore issues from practice and receive support to improve the situation. I strongly believe that this programme is a good initiative for learning disability nurses to explore their skills by helping to build their confidence in practice.