I work in a hospital ward in a mental health unit. My ward caters to people with a dual diagnosis of a learning disability and mental health conditions, all though in reality we can be a bit of a catch all. We have had patients with no specific mental health condition, but no need professional help to manage their behaviour because it’s gotten too challenging to handle in the community. The people who come in can have severe to mild learning disability’s and can have severe/moderate to milder mental health conditions or behaviours that challenge. The ward can be really challenging but I love my ward because it can vary so much. I wanted to work here because I came here as a student nurse at the end of my second year and just loved it from the start, the staff, the patients, the environment and the type of work. I had an interest in mental health for years and it combined with learning disability just made it for me. From working here as a nurse there is a lot of difference, and you can see the cracks that you didn’t see as a student. There are definitely issues here as there is with everywhere else in healthcare. But there’s still no where else I’d rather work.
