North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust has won the Learning Disabilities Nursing Award at the Nursing Times Awards 2026.
The award honours registered learning disability nurses or nurse teams who improve health outcomes, reduce inequalities, and empower people with learning disabilities. The trust has won the award for its work on building the registered nurse learning disabilities workforce, through a T-level student placement initiative.
The project focuses on sustaining the future registered nurse learning disabilities workforce by developing placements for T-Level health students. Placement opportunities have been developed for students aged 16+ at two local colleges and offer experience across five different learning disability services. The programme aims to raise awareness of learning disability nursing as a career and improve understanding of the needs of people with learning disabilities when accessing mainstream services.
The project enhances system-wide knowledge of learning disability care. Students gain exposure to person-centred practice, reasonable adjustments, and inclusive approaches, increasing their confidence to support individuals across healthcare settings. This early learning promotes safer, more equitable care and reduces the risk of diagnostic overshadowing, discrimination and inequality.
The Nursing Times Awards panel said they were impressed by this innovative and exciting project to raise awareness of learning disabilities and learning disability nursing, and that it is inspiring to see an approach that can meaningfully attract young people into the profession.
Jo Copeland, Education and Development Manager at the trust, commented on the impact of the project: “The T-Level project has been a great way to reach out to our local communities and colleges. Our learning disability nurses and allied health professional colleagues have really embraced this opportunity and worked hard to provide some fantastic placements that showcase the role and the trust, which is not something widely done in the area.”
Jo continued: “I’d like to say a huge thank you to the team for helping to develop this amazing scheme, it has been a pleasure, and I hope we can continue with the programme and develop further opportunities to support our learning disability nursing teams.”
Frieza Mahmood, Chief People Officer at the trust, said: “It’s fantastic to see this project receive such deserving recognition through the Nursing Times Awards. Creating engagement with people who have learning disabilities, their families and those interested in careers in learning disability nursing is essential, at a time when the number of learning disability nurses has fallen so significantly.”
Frieza continued: “As a trust, we are committed to sustaining the future registered nurse learning disabilities workforce, and this project is a key component in our work around this. On behalf of the Trust Board, I would like to extend my congratulations to everyone involved in this project, we are so proud of all you have achieved.”
Trust colleagues Vicki Gill, Laura Sharp, Cath Todd-Jones, Simone Hackett, Leanne Evans, Andrea Slinn, and Dean Burgess attended the awards ceremony on 29 October and accepted the award on behalf of the trust.
The trust also saw a second project shortlisted in the Nursing Times Awards this year, as the supporting families who manage risky behaviours at home project was also shortlisted in the Learning Disabilities Nursing category.
Congratulations to everyone involved in these important projects.
