New Nurse To Improve Care For Autistic Patients

A specially trained nurse has been appointed to improve communication, remove barriers to treatment and provide better care for patients with learning disabilities or autism at Coventry’s main hospital.

Leona McCook will be working with families and patients, as well as clinical staff, to make sure people with additional needs understand the hospital process with as few obstacles as possible.

McCook has personal knowledge of the issues patients with a learning disability might face, as she has one nephew who is autistic and another who has muscular dystrophy and autism.

“When it works and you make changes that improve someone’s life, the feeling is unexplainable,” she said.

McCook said: “My post has been developed to support patients who have a learning disability or autism or both. I support staff to better communicate with the patient group, because they don’t always think and feel and communicate in the way that other people do.

“I am that bridge between the communication from the wards to the carer and the family members.”

The new post complements the mandatory training all NHS staff have to undergo, following the death of Oliver McGowan in 2016.

The 18-year-old from Bristol, who was autistic and had epilepsy, was prescribed anti-psychotic medication following a seizure.

He died 17 days later, after a side-effect of the drug he was given caused his brain to swell.

McCook has two nephews who are both autistic and said she always wanted to advocate for patients like them.

She started out as a paediatric nurse, before making the transition to working as a specialist nurse dealing with adults.

She said having worked with children to start with, being able to talk to a patient or their carer in simple terms was important.

At the moment, McCook is on an 18-month long secondment and covers wards, theatres, accident & emergency and minor injuries units at both Coventry’s University Hospital and the St Cross in Rugby.