A nurse who dedicates her working life to improving the lives of people living with dementia has had her efforts recognised with a prestigious accolade.
Rachel Watson is Senior Admiral Nurse for Age UK North Tyneside, a charity dedicated to helping older people make more of life.
It supports hundreds of sufferers of dementia and their carers every year in North Tyneside, with 381 carers and 560 individuals in North Tyneside helped last year.
Rachel was given the accolade ‘highly commended’ by judges overseeing the prestigious Sue Pembrey Award, which recognises exemplary nurses and midwives across the country.
Rachel, who hails from Northumberland but has led her Admiral Nurse team in North Tyneside for almost three years, said: “I feel very humbled to have been nominated for the Foundation of Nursing Services, Sue Pembrey Award, and to have been highly commended is amazing.”
She leads an eight-strong team within the Admiral Nurse and Dementia Service, which operates in a partnership between Dementia UK and Age UK North Tyneside.
The charity provides one-to-one support, specialist groups and activities, peer support, wellbeing centres and care at home for people living with dementia and their carers.
A statement from the judging panel highlighted Rachel’s passion for her work in improving the lives of people with dementia.
It said: “Rachel is passionate about patients and families and how she works and intervenes with families to enable a balance of care of the person with a dementia and for their nearest loved one who is often the carer.”
The Sue Pembrey Award recognises nursing and midwifery leaders who are excellent role models, are committed to enabling care with a team who feel supported and valued.
It is named after Dr Sue Pembrey, who was one of the UK’s outstanding nursing leaders of the late twentieth century.
Her work included supporting the academic development of clinical nursing and the development of nursing practice through strengthening nurses’ leadership roles being committed to patient-centred hospital care.
Alma Caldwell, Chief Executive of Age UK North Tyneside said: “‘We are very proud of Rachel being highly commended in this prestigious award.
“She is a great ambassador and lead for our wonderful dementia team who provide valuable advice, comfort and support to people with dementia and their families from pre diagnosis, throughout their dementia journey to end of life care.”
For more information on Age UK North Tyneside and the services it offers head to https://www.ageuk.org.uk/northtyneside/.