Nurses, Midwives, Healthcare Assistants and Allied Health Professionals from across the Island have come together, with pride, to celebrate International Nurses Day.
Held at St Mary’s Hospital the event was attended by nurses of all grades, employed by the local NHS on the Island. The focus of the event was to bring nurses together to share best practice and clinical expertise across all specialties as well as the opportunity to refresh and enhance skills to continue to improve patient care.
Speaking at the event, Alan Sheward, Executive Director of Nursing, said:
“Days like today are really important. Not only does it give us an opportunity to stop for a moment and celebrate the fantastic care that our nurses, midwives and allied health professionals give to our patients every day but it reminds us all of why we chose to become a nurse, a midwife or an allied health professional. The reason is always to make a change, to help someone in need, to feel that we have done the best we can do. We are generating aspirational nurses for the future and today has given us all a renewed commitment to continue to improve and deliver innovative care.”
The celebration also marked the launch of the Island’s new Admiral Nurses – specialist dementia nurses – who will work in the community to help families who are living with dementia. An appeal to bring Admiral Nurses to the Island was initiated by Lady Sally Grylls, a champion for Dementia care on the Island, 2 years ago. Dementia UK, who developed the Admiral Nursing model, will govern and support the Admiral Nurse service, in partnership with the Isle of Wight NHS Trust.
Representing Lady Grylls at the event Mr Ron Holland, former Island High Sheriff whose nominated charity was Dementia UK spoke about his personal experience of the effects of dementia and the important the role of Admiral Nurses play in the care of both patients and their carers.
Admiral Nurses play a unique role in care management by joining up the different parts of the health and social care system, and help the needs of family carers and people with dementia to be addressed in a co-ordinated way. They provide medical, emotional, and psychological support from diagnosis through to end of life care and bereavement.
The Island’s Admiral Nurses will work with the family to ensure that they are better able to understand and cope with the changes that can occur with dementia, by giving them the knowledge to understand the condition and its effects, and the skills to improve communication and behaviours. This collaborative working enables the family to stay together for as long as possible.
There are 3 Admiral Nurses covering the Island and 2 more Nurses are expected to be recruited over the coming months one of which is being funded by and will work with the Hospice. Access to the NHS funded service is made through the Memory Service at St. Mary’s Hospital whereby an assessment is carried out to identify the needs of those patients under the care of the Memory service.
Welcoming the addition of Admiral Nurses to the Island was Chief Admiral Nurse and Chief Executive Officer for Dementia UK, Hilda Hayo, who said:
“We’re pleased that the Island now has the support of our Admiral Nurses, whose dementia expertise aids the physical and emotional wellbeing of people with dementia and their carers. The Admiral Nursing model is proven to give carers the skills and emotional support they need for prevention of crises, and this helps to reduce the contact time of affected families’ with GPs, nurses and social workers, and reduce health and social care costs.”
Free networking breakfast, lunch and afternoon teas were available followed by a number of motivational discussion sessions. One of the themes for the day was ‘Dying Matters’ which coincided with Dying Matters Awareness Week (9-15th May). There were also opportunities for staff to learn more about the world of social media and Twitter.
Featured photo: IOWNursing/Twitter
