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Thirty-one participants engaged in this oral history research study aimed at exploring the lived experience of intellectual disability nurses and healthcare assistants' knowledge of the trajectory of intellectual disability nursing over the last 30 years in the Republic of Ireland and England. This paper documents some of these experiences offering perspectives on intellectual disability nursing and what is important for the future. Findings from Ireland consider the nature of intellectual disability services and the registered nurse in intellectual disability. Findings from England focus on opportunities and restrictions in intellectual disability nursing, shared visions, the changing context within which work took place and also the internal and external supports that impacted their roles. It is evident that intellectual disability nurses must be responsive to the changing landscape of service provision and also the requirements for contemporary new roles to meet the changing needs of people with intellectual disabilities.

Why you should read this article: • To understand the importance of the early recognition of health issues in people with learning disabilities • To enhance your knowledge of the range of communication skills nurses may use to engage service users in a systematic health assessment • To contribute towards revalidation as part of your 35 hours of CPD (UK readers) • To contribute towards your professional development and local registration renewal requirements (non-UK readers). An important element of the role of the learning disability nurse is to support service users to maintain their health, particularly in relation to the early detection of health issues and timely access to appropriate treatments. One way of achieving this is by undertaking a systematic health assessment, of which effective communication is a central component in terms of identifying the person's communication needs and using appropriate communication methods to meet those needs. Effective communication can engage the person in the assessment process as well as identifying their own experience of their health. This article explains the importance of using a systematic approach to health assessment and describes various elements of communication involved in this process. The authors include a fictional case study to outline how a systematic health assessment works in practice and the range of communication skills nurses may use to engage service users in the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic has been felt by all groups in society and people with intellectual disability are especially vulnerable due to underlying conditions/health problems, multi-morbidity, limitations in understanding, frailty and social circumstances. This places people with intellectual disability, their families and carers at increased risk of stress and in need of support. To update and chart the evidence of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on people with intellectual disability, their families and carers reported within the research in 2021. A scoping review of research published in 2021 across 7 databases. 84 studies met the inclusion criteria, and the findings highlight people with intellectual disability are at a greater risk to COVID-19 health outcomes due to underlying health concerns and access issues. The effects of COVID-19 can be seen from a personal, social and health perspective for people with intellectual disability, their carers and families. However, COVID-19 did have some unanticipated benefits such as: less demand on time, greater opportunity to engage with people of value and building resilience. COVID-19 presents many challenges but for people with intellectual disability compounding existing obstacles encountered in access issues, service provision and supports available. There is a need to identify and describe the experiences of people with intellectual disability, their families and carers in the medium-long term during COVID-19. Greater supports and evidence of effective interventions to promote health, deliver services and support individual with intellectual disability is needed as there is little evidence of clinical care for people with intellectual disability during COVID-19. During pandemics the perspectives of people with intellectual disability, their carers and service providers are central to addressing systemic health care inequalities and poor-quality person-centred care. Greater collaboration is needed to learn from pandemics in terms of health and social care policy improvements. There remains a need for large scale studies that are representative of the broad spectrum of the intellectual disability population and examine Long-COVID in this group of people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why you should read this article: • To enhance your understanding of the communication needs of people with learning disabilities • To appreciate how non-verbal communication can usefully complement or replace verbal communication • To contribute towards revalidation as part of your 35 hours of CPD (UK readers) • To contribute towards your professional development and local registration renewal requirements (non-UK readers) People with learning disabilities may experience communication difficulties and it is essential for nurses to develop the necessary skills to support them, from being attuned to a person's gestures and vocalisations to using sign language and assistive technologies. Supporting people with learning disabilities involves adopting a person-centred approach to communication, developing a communication passport that describes their communication abilities and needs, and providing written materials in easy-read format. When interacting with people with learning disabilities, nurses can also make effective use of non-verbal communication to complement or replace verbal communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thirty-one participants engaged in this oral history research study aimed at exploring the lived experience of intellectual disability nurses and healthcare assistants' knowledge of the trajectory of intellectual disability nursing over the last 30 years in the Republic of Ireland and England. This paper documents some of these experiences offering perspectives on intellectual disability nursing and what is important for the future. Findings from Ireland consider the nature of intellectual disability services and the registered nurse in intellectual disability. Findings from England focus on opportunities and restrictions in intellectual disability nursing, shared visions, the changing context within which work took place and also the internal and external supports that impacted their roles. It is evident that intellectual disability nurses must be responsive to the changing landscape of service provision and also the requirements for contemporary new roles to meet the changing needs of people with intellectual disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with an intellectual disability are a vulnerable group during COVID-19 due to multi-morbidity, frailty, underlying conditions/health problems, social circumstances and limitations in understanding. This places them at greater risk of more severe outcomes from COVID-19. To chart the evidence of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on people with intellectual disability and their carers reported in the research. A scoping review method was used to review literature published across eight databases in 2020 and included manual searches of reference lists of included articles. Sixteen studies were selected for inclusion. The findings highlight that professionals, people with intellectual disability and their carers were keen to comply with pandemic related public health guidance. However, implementing infection prevention and control measures in certain contexts for people with intellectual disability was challenging. Thereby a rights-based, person-centred approach to care is essential and professionals need to extend their understanding and practice of collaborative working to include people with intellectual disability and their family/carers. The findings highlight that compliance with public health guidance and infection control measures can be difficult for people with intellectual disability to implement. There is limited good quality robust research on COVID-19 and people with intellectual disability and/or their carers experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]