Able Nurses & Midwives

1. Able Nurses & Midwives Barbara Waters Ex CE Skill: National Bureau for Students with Disabilities UK

2. Culture • Risk averse • Barriers posed by statutory regulation • Surfeit of requirements often vague • Disabled people are patients not colleagues • Focus on what is wrong with people rather than what they can contribute

3. Impact of nursing as a profession • Substantial work force • Highly rated by the public • Public services need to reflect full diversity of society • Wealth of skills and personal experiences that can enrich the work • Framework of competence and conduct • Public still protected

4. Evidence of risk – fact or prejudice • Review by UK Disability Rights Commission of high profile cases where patients harmed or killed • No evidence regulation of mental or physical fitness would have prevented criminal acts but pointers to inadequate management • Many standards not legitimate competence standards

5. What is the problem with existing competence standards? • Do not determine whether someone is competent to practice in a profession eg ‘ to be of ‘good health’ and ‘good character’ • Frequently lead to discriminatory attitudes, policies and practice • Impact assessment will help to identify where this is happening • Link with anti discrimination legislation and human rights act

6. Finding of Disability Rights Commission UK 2007 • Generalised health standards encourage a diagnosis-led approach to the assessment of risk rather than individualised approach • No useful function in predicting future conduct or competence or in assessing risk

7. Do specific disabilities pose a risk? • People with mental health difficulties are excluded without assessment/support • Outspoken prejudice drives people underground, making work more difficult without accommodations • ‘honest students and staff are penalised, so the unsuitable candidates are not being identified’ Nurse with mental health history

8. Nurses with dyslexia might make mistakes • Being expert in the accommodations you need means better prepared • Good use of technology for checking drugs and dosages • People with dyslexia know they have to check • No cases of medical mistakes recorded as caused by dyslexia, stress, tiredness and lack of attention more likely causes

9. How to move forward • Actively promote entry of disabled people into the profession through websites, literature, promotional events and careers services • Monitor and research under represented groups and use impact assessments to identify where there are barriers • Combat the perception that all disabled people are vulnerable receipients of care

10. How to move forward 2 • Make it clear why information about disability is being collected, who will see it and what use it will be put to Create an inclusive culture: • Where there are role models • Mistakes made by disabled people are dealt with as they would be with any student and not automatically attributed to disability

11. Useful reading • Into Nursing published by Skill www.skill.org.uk/bookshop • Maintaining Standards: Promoting Equality, report of a UK Disability Rights Commission Formal Investigation 2007 www.maintainingstandards.org

12. Contact Skill Skill Information Service • Tuesday 11.30am-1.30pm • Thursday 1.30pm-3.30pm • Websitewww.skill.org.uk • EmailInfo@skill.org.uk • Voice 0207 450 0620 • Text 0200 068 2422 • Fax 0207 450 0650 Unit 3, Floor 3, Radisson Court, 219 Long Lane, London SE1 4PR