A CARE worker from Fordingbridge is tackling living as someone with learning disabilities to get an insight into how to treat her clients.

Elisa Wilcox, 43, is in Holland spending two days at a European project looking into how to improve care for those who need it.

The project is taking care workers from all over Europe and putting them into a simulated care ethics ward, where they will live as if they had learning disabilities themselves.

Ms Wilcox is spending two days as a person with severe disabilities on a ward in a specially simulated lab in Zeeland.

She must stay in role for the duration of the programme and experience what it is like to be helped to eat and wash and to be taken to the bathroom.

Ms Wilcox, who works in Ferndown, is acting as a service user with cerebral palsy, moderate learning difficulties and epilepsy, who cannot speak.

“This is going to be one of the most demanding things I’ve ever done,” said Ms Wilcox, who works for independent care provider Regard.

“I’m hoping to come away with a greater understanding of what it’s like to be a person with learning difficulties, totally dependent on support staff.

“To truly appreciate what it’s like to be cared for round the clock and all that involves is going to be a humbling experience.”

Ms Wilcox, who left a job in the insurance sector four years ago to work in the care industry, will report back to Regard’s service managers.

“I’ll be able to tell them what it’s like firsthand to be reliant on others and ways we can further tailor the care we provide to meet their needs.”

The ‘sTimul’ care-ethics project is led by KAHO Sint-Lieven University, Belgium, working with organisations including Partners in Care, Dorset.

Care workers from across Europe will be participating in the operation in two fully-equipped simulated care homes, one in the Netherlands and the other in Moorsele, in Belgium.

Regard provides support for people with learning disabilities, mental health conditions or acquired brain injury in 111 services across the UK.