The Springhill Care Admiral Nurse Service Evaluation Report - Blog by Jakki Whitehead
The Overview
In September 2018 the first Admiral Nurse Service Evaluation Report for Riversway Nursing Home was been published by Dementia UK (see report below).
This report looks at the work I have done as an Admiral Nurse at Riversway Nursing Home from January 2017 - April 2018 and was guided and co-written by Laura, Research and Evaluation Officer from Dementia UK.
Summary:
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The service had caseload numbers of 34 residents and 55 family members
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9 members of staff have become Dementia Champions
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64% of staff have completed Dementia Awareness Training (which I have written and delivered)
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59% of residents have a completed ‘This Is Me’ document (which forms a baseline for life history work)
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Staff’s confidence and competence in delivering person-centred dementia care has increased.
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A new forget me not cafe has been established, bringing together residents, their families and care home staff.
The original key objectives were for the Admiral Nurse
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to work with residents with complex needs associated with dementia and to support their relatives.
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enabling excellent relationship-centred care in a nursing home environment, working with resident, relative and paid carer
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and training Dementia Champions to raise awareness of best practice and to facilitate this being carried out.
In order to prove that these objectives were being met Laura and I made a list of evaluation questions such as: Is the Admiral Nurse having an impact on other professionals through supporting best practice?
We also used indicators to prove that that the required outcomes were being met using the Care Fit for VIPS audit outcomes; numbers of This is Me documents filled in; numbers of people trained at both level 1 and 2; results from research questionnaires and results from focus groups held by Laura with staff, residents and relatives.
I wrote a case study to illustrate how I worked with a resident and family with complex care needs. The conclusions were very positive with data showing that the home had noticeably shifted their practice to be more person centred.
“I think we have more understanding of the residents, and… Have a different approach, if it makes sense?”
– Focus Group participants, Senior Care Home Staff
The forget me not cafe was highly rated and helps to encourage better relationships between staff, residents and families.
“But also they [the families] find confidence in the fact that the Admiral Nurse holds the cafés, which is also always available, and she has groups with the residents as well, so she’s available to them and they have confidence in her and talk about the conditions.”
– Focus Group participant, Service Managers
The Dementia Champions were recognised as pivotal to instigating change.
“I spoke to the Dementia Champions and they are committed to taking action to create a care system that has compassion and respect for those using its services. They told me they had many discussions and meetings to gain insight and knowledge and were generally supported by the Admiral Nurse. They felt far more confident and understood much more about dementia.”
– External Auditor
I feel privileged to have been part of this process at Riversway and I am very pleased to have this report as proof of actions taken.
by Jakki Whitehead, Admiral Nurse
The Springhill Care Admiral Nurse Service Evaluation report
Part 2 Next month - The Springhill Care Admiral Nurse Service Evaluation Report - The Details
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