Admiral Nurse

Newcastle Community Admiral Nurse

Project lead: Dr Karen Nielsen (NHS Newcastle Gateshead CCG)

Dementia Care (a Newcastle-based dementia charity) and Dementia UK (a national dementia charity) aim to work in partnership to establish a new Admiral Nurse Service in the Newcastle area over the next 3 years.

It will improve the complex care and support of people with dementia and their families. The impact of the project is in terms of the difference it makes to beneficiaries, their physical and psychological wellbeing, their resilience and ability to remain at home, the prevention of inappropriate hospital admissions and use of GP time.

The Admiral Nurse will be employed by Dementia Care and work with their care providers and also take referrals from several external sources including social care, GPs, districted nurses, carers services and self-referrals, districted nurses, carers services and self-referrals.

In the North East 28.2% of emergency admissions with injuries due to falls (age 65+) have a secondary diagnosis of dementia and/or delirium. This is above the national average of 26.8% and the trend is increasing year on year.

This project provides an opportunity to work in an integrated way with a social care provider and look at dementia care holistically with clinical outcomes as well as social and emotional outcomes.

The Admiral Nurse will be able to assess the home environment. They can support earlier discharge from hospital as well as increase resilience and reduce admissions.