Dementia UK, who founded and developed the Admiral Nursing model, works in partnership with South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, NHS Greater Huddersfield CCG and NHS North Kirklees CCG to help to govern, monitor, and support the Admiral Nurse service.
Admiral Nurses are registered community mental health nurses who specialise in dementia care. Working in partnership, they provide person-centred support to carers and families of people living with dementia. They also work with other agencies and staff that provide care for people living with dementia, offering invaluable support, education and information.
Admiral Nurses offer individualised support for family carers and people with dementia. They provide an assessment of people’s needs and a range of therapeutic approaches designed to promote emotional wellbeing and equip family carers with skills and information.
Services offered include:
Person-centred assessments of the needs of family carers and individuals with dementia
Psychological support to help family carers and people with dementia understand and deal with their feelings and emotions
Relevant information presented in a way that can be easily understood
Practical advice
Helping family carers to develop and improve skills in caregiving
Education and support around the behavioural aspects of dementia
Clear guidance about how appropriate services and sources of support can be accessed in local areas
Liaison with other professionals and organisations to ensure that families obtain co-ordinated support
Therapeutic, psycho-educational and social support groups for family carers
We are specialists in all aspects of dementia and can give help and guidance through care and services.
We are carer led and work with the full family to support them to work with the person with dementia.
Our Nurses respect your ability to make decisions for the person you care for’s future.
We offer continuity of contact and you will work with the same nurse throughout your time caring for someone with dementia.
92% of our carers said they received good information about dementia from the Admiral Nurses.
We facilitate the Positive Steps Carers’ Education course which aims to give you the information, skills and support you need to care for someone with dementia.
We work closely with other health and social care professionals and will help you to navigate where you can get support.
Staff you may meet
Administrative staff provide essential support to doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals. This can be in a variety of different settings, with administrators working as a receptionist in a clinic or a clerk on a ward. They may also be working closely with a consultant as a medical secretary.
Admiral nurses are specialist dementia nurses who give expert practical, clinical and emotional support to families living with dementia to help them cope.
Nurses who choose to specialise in the mental health branch of nursing work with GPs, psychiatrists, psychologists, and others, to help care for patients. Increasingly, care is given in the community, with mental health nurses visiting patients and their families at home, in residential centres, in prisons or in specialist clinics or units.
Occupational therapy is the assessment and treatment of physical and psychiatric conditions using specific, purposeful activity to prevent disability and promote independent function in all aspects of daily life.
The evidence is starting to emerge about the cost-effectiveness of the Admiral Nursing approach which stems from the substantial impact this model has on demand for hospital, nursing and residential care.
We do not have a waiting list and contact referrals within 4 working days.
The Positive Steps Educational Programme reduces carer stress and burden, improves carer mental health, the person living with dementia’s experience of the illness and their caring experience as a whole. The programme delivers on the National Dementia Strategy (2009) outcomes for carers. 87% of participants felt topics covered were relevant/very relevant. The content for the programme was developed with the Alzheimer’s Society ‘Information needs of people with dementia and their carers’ (2010) report in mind. This project also brings together all our key partners who provide services and support for people living with dementia and their carers within the Kirklees locality.
The Admiral Nurse Satisfaction Survey 2011/12 found that 92% of carers agreed that Admiral Nurse gave sufficient advice and information on dementia.
The service operates from an equality and diversity perspective to provide services that are relevant, appropriate and respectful to individuals. Services will be offered irrespective of ability, background, ethnicity and sexuality orientation.
We have a commitment to staff development in order to provide well informed, highly motivated nurses. We attend a practice development day every month facilitated by Dementia UK. Staff have 100% appraisals completed and also receive regular management and clinical supervision.
Compliance with Kirklees Safeguarding Adults and Children policy. There are also many occasions where Admiral Nurses support, provide information for and discuss safeguarding alerts with carers, professionals and people living with dementia.
Some of our staff have attended the Dementia Friends training, in line with the national campaign. Also, all staff are registered dignity champions.
We work to develop a dementia friendly community, as part of the Admiral Nurse Competency Framework. We have delivered talks to voluntary agencies, supermarkets, bank staff, community groups (such as the WI) and many more. These talks discuss the service; give education on dementia and signpost people to services if they are concerned about their memory.
We work collaboratively with other health and social care teams, including end of life care. All our staff have attended the Communication in End of Life course, facilitated by the Kirkwood Hospice.
We work alongside carers in service development. This is with the aim to start co-production of the Positive Steps cares education course in January 2015. We also use carer feedback to inform changes to the course content and the wider service.
100% of carers referred of people with dementia admitted to ward 19 at Dewsbury and District Hospital (older person’s mental health ward) are offered support.
We have a proactive follow-up of carers who miss appointments by automatically offering further support via a telephone call and if we are unable to contact the carer a letter requesting them to call us is sent.
We have one of the lowest sickness rates in the Trust with just 2.6% absence year-to-date.
Support offered
Practical advice
Person-centred assessments of needs of carers
Signposting/re-referral to other organisations or services which may be able to help further
Self-care
Liaison with other professionals and services
Therapeutic, psycho-educational and social support groups for family carers
Developing and improving skills in caregiving
Supportive education for partner agencies
Prevent carer stress/breakdown
Support through difficult periods
Outcomes
Ongoing practical and emotional support for people with dementia and their carers
Peer support
Timely and appropriate information to offer choices
Community support services which offer collaboration between professionals and family members
Continued support during periods of general hospital care with physical illness – through encouraging strong links between acute care ward staff and mental health hospital liaison services to raise awareness of dementia, therefore, improving the quality of care and appropriate aftercare on discharge
Building on carers’ existing skills and knowledge
Whilst reducing:
The feelings of isolation often associated with the caring role;
Unnecessary acute hospital admissions
Difficulties that may exacerbate breakdown or crisis within the supportive networks of families affected by dementia
The need for costly interventions such as home care and nursing/residential placements
A & E, AHPs, Carers/family, CMHTs, Consultants, Courts, Drug/alcohol agencies, GP staff, GPs, Health visitors, Hospital staff, Housing associations, Local authority staff, Midwives, Other NHS services, Other Trust services, Police, Schools, Single Point of Access team, Voluntary services, Youth centres, Youth Offending Team
Referrals also accepted from:
Open referral system
Referral criteria:
Carers who are eligible to use the service will be over the age of 18 years, registered with a Kirklees GP and providing a caring role (unpaid) for an individual with a diagnosis of dementia.
