Admiral nurses
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals in conjunction with Dementia UK has appointed its first Admiral Nurses.
Michaela Chand (right) and Georgia Kipling (left) have joined the team to set up our Admiral Nurse Transitions of Care service here at STH.
Our team of Admiral Nurses are specialist dementia nurses that are continually supported and developed by Dementia UK. The Transitions of Care Admiral Nurse will support people with dementia, their families, and professionals to ensure the right place destination on complex discharge and help to prevent breakdown and crisis. They are there for families with dementia when needed most; providing health advice, compassionate emotional and psychological support, and improving the quality of life for everyone involved.
The Admiral Nurses will support a caseload of patients, carers and family members from the point of referral to a post-discharge period of up to 6 weeks. Ensuring timely discharge, the right place destination on discharge, least restrictive options, proactively seeking ways to support a ‘home first’ approach. Working closely with local nursing and residential homes to enable better transitions from hospital. They will also be on hand to provide community follow up to our partners in Primary Care. Community referrals are also accepted if the patient has been discharged within 72 hours of discharge and are at a high risk of readmission into hospital.
Please click here for the referral form
The service is now live and taking referrals. The team will operate Monday to Friday between the hours of 8am and 4pm. Please complete the referral form and send to the admiral nurse email address - sth.admiralnurses@nhs.net they will aim to respond to your referral within 3 working days.
Eligible patients should be on discharge pathway 1, 2 or 3. They should have a diagnosis of dementia (a documented working diagnosis is sufficient), be medically stable and ready for discharge planning, have some complexity* to their care needs OR have complex family dynamics. Consent should be obtained from the patient or their NOK prior to any referral being made.
To contact Michaela or Georgia about the new Admiral Nurse service, please email on sth.admiralnurses@nhs.net or call the team on ext 67020 / 14983.
*Complex needs may include issues such as the carer struggling to cope, high risk of carer breakdown, complex family dynamics, high level of distress, changes in the presentation of the person with dementia, complex decision making, comorbidities, delirium and end of life care.
sth.admiralnurses@nhs.net and we will aim to respond to your referral within 3 working days.
