New Admiral nurses boost dementia care

In a first for York Hospital, a new team of specialist Admiral nurses have been appointed specifically to support carers of dementia patients.

The move by York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust will come as a welcome service for carers struggling with the demands of dementia care.

The vital service provided by the Admiral nurses will offer life-changing support for families living with dementia and marks a significant step forward for the Trust. The Admiral team will be instrumental in training other nurses and clinical staff in the delivery of evidence-based dementia care.  In doing so they will ensure families are better supported in managing the complex care needs dementia can present.

The new appointments consist of a Lead Admiral Nurse, Amber Fryatt, who will be based at York.  She joins other Admiral nurses and together they will be working across all the area the Trust covers. The team will provide on-going support not only during a patient’s hospital stay but will provide advice to families to support discharge.

Admiral nurses are registered nurses from Dementia UK but will be employed by the Trust. They have specialist knowledge of dementia care and work alongside other leading dementia charities.  They provide life-changing tools to help families and carers cope with challenging behaviours.  Amber and her team will provide support to other Trust colleagues, service providers and community partners.

Reflecting on her new role Amber explained: “We are all extremely excited as this is a first for the Trust.  We are looking forward to working with other Trust health professionals, people with lived experience of dementia and their families, community organisations and other health and social care partners involved in dementia care.”

As part of the new care package, the Trust has recently refreshed the approach to implement John’s Campaign. The campaign is aimed at welcoming and supporting families to work in partnership with the Trust in meeting the care needs of vulnerable patients.

Carers will receive a new identification card from the wards to enable them to access free car parking and visit outside standard visiting times.

Reflecting on the new roles, Caroline Johnson, Deputy Director of Governance and Patient Safety, said: “This marks an incredible step forward for the Trust and the patients and families we support across York and North Yorkshire. We are incredibly grateful to Dementia UK for giving the Trust the opportunity to implement such an exciting new service.”