Worcestershire Young Onset Dementia Services

• Worcestershire young onset dementia services

Worcestershire Admiral Nurse Service with Worcestershire Health and Social Care NHS Trust

The Admiral Nurse service is a collaboration between Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust and Dementia UK.

What is an Admiral Nurse?

Admiral Nurses are specialist dementia nurses. They provide life-changing support for families facing dementia, helping to prevent or manage complex issues. They can give tailored health advice and emotional support and help build links with other health and care professionals. For many families, they can be a lifeline.

Admiral Nurse dementia services

Admiral Nurse service appointments and visits provide an opportunity to seek specialist advice, support and clinical guidance, in confidence. Nurses have the skills, knowledge and experience to support families where there are complex needs.

What are complex needs?

Every family has its own experience of dementia, but here are some examples of complex needs that the Admiral Nurse can offer support with:

• the person with dementia has been admitted to hospital in the past six months
• the person is at high risk of needing to go into hospital because of their dementia
• the carer is struggling to understand the diagnosis of dementia and how it affects the person
• the carer is under significant stress and at risk of a breakdown
• the carer needs support with managing challenging behaviour in the person with dementia
• the family needs support with advance care planning
• the person with dementia and their carer disagree about the person’s care and treatment
• the person with dementia is approaching the end of life

This list is by no means exhaustive. Every family living with dementia has its own unique circumstances. Admiral Nurses take the time to truly listen to each family’s situation, and suggest methods to deal with symptoms and coping strategies for the challenges dementia can bring.

When is the Admiral Nurse service available?

Appointments and or visits will typically be available:

• Monday-Friday 9:00am to 5:00pm (excluding bank holidays).

Please note that we are not an urgent response service so we cannot accept urgent or same-day referrals.

Who can access this service?

Self and professional referral

You can refer yourself to the Admiral Nurse Service by completing the self-referral form at:

• Admiral Nurses Carers Form | Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust

The service is available to the family carers of people with a confirmed diagnosis of dementia who live in and or are registered with a GP practice in Worcestershire.

If you cannot complete the online form, please call: 0300 123 1734 and leave a message. You can also ask your GP or another health or social care professional to refer you to the service.

Referral information for professionals

Anyone who provides care and support to a person living with dementia can be referred to the Admiral Nurses, provided that:

1. the person with dementia has already received a diagnosis, if no diagnosis has been given, please advise the person and or carer to contact their GP initially
2. the carer has given consent for a referral (we are unable to progress referrals without consent)
3. the person living with dementia is a resident of Worcestershire and or is registered with a Worcestershire GP

Online referral form to be completed here: 

• Admiral Nurses Form | Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust

What to do if you do not meet the referral criteria

If you do not meet the referral criteria for the Admiral Nurse service at this time but you have questions or concerns about dementia, you can speak to an Admiral Nurse on Dementia UK’s national Helpline.

Call free on: 0800 888 6678 or email: helpline@dementiauk.org 

The Helpline is open seven days a week, Monday to Friday 9:00am to 9:00pm and Saturday, Sunday and bank holidays 9:00am to 5:00pm (except 25th December).

Alternatively, you can visit dementiauk.org/book to book a phone or video appointment with an Admiral Nurse at a time that suits you.

Dementia UK also produces leaflets on many aspects of dementia, from practical advice on finances and planning for the future to understanding symptoms such as sundowning, delirium, and false beliefs and delusions.

Visit: Dementia leaflets - Dementia UK

Become a Dementia Friend

Dementia friend is a volunteer who encourages others to make a positive difference to people living with dementia in their community. They do this by giving them information about the personal impact of dementia, and what they can do to help.

• Dementia Friends - What is a Dementia Friend?

Dementia Meeting Centres

A Meeting Centre is a local resource, operating out of ordinary community buildings, that offers on-going warm and friendly expert support to people with mild to moderate dementia and their families. At the heart of the Meeting Centre is a social club where people meet to have fun, talk to others and get help that focuses on what they need. Meeting Centres are based on sound research evidence of what helps people to cope well in adjusting to living with the symptoms and changes that dementia brings.

• Meeting Centres UK

If you would like to find out more about the UK Meeting Centre Support Programme and/or the Worcestershire Meeting Centre Support programme please email: meetingcentres@worc.ac.uk

Dementia friendly places and communities

In Worcestershire we have dementia friendly towns, supermarkets and businesses. Look out for information in your local community. It may be that your local supermarket has a slow lane with extra help in place for people living with dementia. The Dementia Action Alliance lists the current organisations that are part of the dementia friendly community.

• Dementia Action Alliance

Accessible places

• Disabled Go

Travel Wallet scheme

The Worcestershire Travel Wallet is a scheme to support people with various disabilities to make best use of public transport by helping overcome some of the communication barriers that they can face on a daily basis. 

• Worcestershire Travel Wallet

Safe places

The Safe Place scheme gives vulnerable people a short term ‘Safe Place’ to go if they are feeling threatened or upset when out and about in their local town.

• Safe Places

NEW Lifeline scheme

NEW Lifeline scheme is a community alarm service which provides peace of mind 24 hours per day, 365 days per year to vulnerable people in Bromsgrove District and Redditch Borough.

The Herbert Protocol is a national scheme adopted by police services and other agencies across the country.

It is a simple risk reduction tool to be used in the event of a person with Dementia or other mental vulnerability going missing.

It consists of a form that contains vital information about a person at risk that can be passed to the police if the person is reported missing.

• West Mercia Police