{"id":26871,"date":"2026-04-15T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/?p=26871"},"modified":"2026-04-08T12:11:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T11:11:15","slug":"islas-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/islas-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Isla’s story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In my role, I provide professional advice from my clinical and nursing experience on all matters relating to learning disability, autism and neurodevelopmental conditions. I support civil servants by providing high quality advice to Scottish Government contributing to the development and delivery of key Learning Disability (LD) policy areas. Any civil servant will tell you that there is no typical day, although I do often find myself in many meetings \u2013 from reviewing and shaping draft guidance and strategies, working with colleagues across Government, to meeting with Nurse Directors and Scottish Learning Disability Nurses to understand the real challenges on the frontline and engagement with the leads from each Health Board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am very proud to be a Registered Learning Disability Nurse (RLDN). Our role and function is to work in partnership with people with learning disabilities and their supporters to collaborate with health and care services, third sector, and integrated services, private and public agencies to meet the evolving needs of a growing population. Registered Learning Disability Nurses work with children and adults, their families and carers, staff and support teams and the wider workforce to enable each person to achieve their full potential and to live a fulfilling life. Working collaboratively improves autonomy, promotes health and wellbeing and supports inclusion; enhancing lifestyles that help achieve the best health outcomes. We celebrate the many different roles and functions – one profession, one ambition, countless opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am very fortunate to have had several proud moments in my career. My path has been celebrated with developments attracting cross party support, NHS Scotland Endorsement, British Medical Association awards, Queen\u2019s Nursing Institute for Scotland and Scholarship Awards. I have been so fortunate to work closely with numerous stakeholders, supportive families and carers but most importantly the individuals with a learning disability. I am very fortunate to enjoy rewarding roles and to have travelled widely for work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A good day always, is ensuring people with Learning disabilities are at the heart of everything we do. Nothing about us without us! In particular, a good day is hearing about and seeing the positive outcomes from the annual health checks being offered to persons aged 16 and over who have a learning disability. We are now seeing huge benefits and results from LD annual health checks including onward referrals to other services, providing vital opportunities for prevention, early intervention, treatment and support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RNLDs are highly skilled specialists who deliver strong value, safety and advocacy for people with learning disabilities (PWLD) and are essential across all health services used by PWLD and their carers. RNLD nursing is a high\u2011quality, sustainable career that supports social mobility and benefits both urban and rural communities, and I would encourage anyone thinking about a career in nursing, if you have passion, commitment and care, to join the profession through degree or widening access routes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Read all Humans of Scotland stories here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

In connection with Humans of Scotland, the ALLIANCE Person Centred Voices team launched a short film. In it, we hear from some of the incredible nurses and midwives we\u2019ve had the honour of meeting over the years. This film is a celebration of person centred care, professional pride, and the human connections that sit at the heart of nursing and midwifery. You can watch the film here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my role, I provide professional advice from my clinical and nursing experience on all matters relating to learning disability, autism and neurodevelopmental conditions. I support civil servants by providing high quality advice to Scottish Government contributing to the development and delivery of key Learning Disability (LD) policy areas. Any civil servant will tell you … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":26873,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"hos-category":[741],"humans_tags":[871,828],"area_of_work":[776,774],"strategic_priority":[],"class_list":["post-26871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","hos-category-services-and-support","humans_tags-nursing-and-midwifery","humans_tags-services-and-support","area_of_work-humans-of-scotland","area_of_work-person-centred-voices"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIsla's story - Humans of Scotland<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.alliance-scotland.org.uk\/humansofscotland\/islas-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Isla's story - Humans of Scotland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In my role, I provide professional advice from my clinical and nursing experience on all matters relating to learning disability, autism and neurodevelopmental conditions. 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