1 Dementia support manager jobs

Admiral Nurse Band 7 – Age UK Buckinghamshire

Job Description

 

Grade: Band 7 (NHS Agenda for change pay scale)

Clinically Accountable To: Age UK Buckinghamshire

Responsible To: Dementia Support Bucks Service Manager And Head of Services, Age UK Bucks

Location: Hybrid, with some Head Office presence alongside community focused and home working

Age UK Bucks Office: 145 Meadowcroft, Aylesbury, HP19 9HH

Hours: 37.5 hours per week

PayScale: Up to 52,951

Key Relationships

-         Age UK Buckinghamshire senior staff

· Dementia Support Workers

· Older people’s mental health services

· Individuals, families/carers affected by dementia1

· Adult Social care/Age UK Bucks safeguarding team

· Primary care multidisciplinary teams

· Dementia UK

· Local partners and VCSE organisations

· Age UK Hillingdon Harrow and Brent senior staff

Dementia Support Bucks is a dementia support service delivered by Age UK Buckinghamshire in partnership with Age UK Harrow, Hillingdon and Brent, supported by Buckinghamshire County Council.

Dementia Support Bucks is described as a service delivered by Age UK Buckinghamshire.  Where this Job Description refers to Dementia Support Bucks (DSB) or the Dementia Support Service it is referring to the service and when it refers to Age UK Buckinghamshire it is referring to the employing organisation.

Dementia Support Bucks

Dementia Support Bucks is designed to improve the support and guidance available to someone with memory concern or a diagnosis of dementia, and their carers. Buckinghamshire has over 4,500 residents living with a dementia diagnosis and working alongside many local organisations, our service is developing strong relationships with existing referrers and professionals, including the Memory Assessment Service, working with local support groups and communities for whom dementia represents especially problematic challenges. We are also building online resources to share information and activities that are relevant to clients and professionals.

The service is delivered by a team of Dementia Support Workers (DSWs), whose role is to be a consistent support to those living with dementia, and their carers – through assessments and support plans to help manage the evolving nature of the condition, to end-of-life planning. It’s a challenging and demanding role, but one that we know will bring rewards, professional development, and job satisfaction.

The role of the Admiral Nurse in this service

The Admiral Nurse will be a specialist resource embedded within this service to provide expert  clinical support, guidance and intervention for families affected by dementia who have complex needs. This will strengthen specialist support within the Age UK’s Dementia Support Service and improve coordination, capacity and knowledge across the local dementia ecosystem.

The Admiral Nurse will sit within the service to support a wraparound approach to dementia support, ensuring that the right professionals are providing the right support at the right time.  The Admiral Nurse will work collaboratively with staff at Age UK Buckinghamshire’s Dementia Support Bucks, building knowledge and capability in the wider Dementia ecosystem, including working within the DSB service with local GPs, Dementia support groups, and establishing best practice and professional development approaches in the service itself.

The Admiral Nurse will not be required to hold their own caseload, but will support Dementia Support Workers with theirs, especially the more complex cases. Support will be delivered through joint working and where necessary, clinic appointments.

The post holder will:

· Work collaboratively with Dementia Support Workers at Age UK Buckinghamshire to support best practice and professional development to enhance dementia support

· Reduce inequality to improve accessibility to specialist dementia support 

· Provide support and guidance to families experiencing complexities of dementia

· Provide appropriate signposting to other health and social care providers within Buckinghamshire to support timely access to dementia support

· Support ongoing quality improvement initiatives in the DSB service, to ensure appropriate access to the dementia diagnostic pathway and post diagnostic support

· Support evaluation to measure service outcomes to demonstrate impact and experience for families and professionals

· Deliver the role in line with the Admiral Nurse Practice Standards Framework

· Share knowledge across primary care services to improve appropriate referrals to the Memory Assessment Service delivered by Oxford Health.  

Main Duties & Responsibilities: 

Support for the whole family

· Provide specialist nursing support using the Admiral Nurse assessment Framework, adopting a holistic, relationship centred approach

· Support people with dementia, carers/families and staff and other health and social care professionals to understand and respond to changes in behaviour and relationships

· Oversee and advise on holistic assessments and interventions delivered by DSW’s

· Improve understanding among carers, people with dementia and the wider public of dementia progression and self-management strategies pre- and post-diagnosis including Post Diagnosis Information Sessions (PDIS)

· Enhance understanding and communication between family carers and professional caregivers

· Support complex case decision-making

· Provide a range of advice on psychosocial interventions and emotional support to promote health and wellbeing for people with dementia and their carers/families

· Support advance care planning discussions, including guidance and support to DSWs and the service to enable improved planning for families when dealing with end of life and during bereavement

· Provide guidance relating to mental capacity, safeguarding and mental health are considered and adhered to in relation to patient care.  

These activities will be delivered through a variety of settings including team meetings, PDIS sessions, home visits, telephone calls, face to face or an online clinic appointment. Outreach clinics and group-based education may also be delivered where appropriate.

Workforce development and sharing of best practice

· Provide clinical leadership support and guidance to others on the delivery of evidence-based practice in dementia care within Dementia Support Bucks

• Provide advice, information, and guidance to primary care services on dementia presentation, identification and appropriate referral, with targeted training for GP practices with high referral volumes but low diagnosis rates

• Promote involvement of carers and people with dementia in care planning and decision-making

• Support the wider dementia ecosystem including safe and robust capacity building e.g. dementia cafes

Reducing inequality of accessibility to dementia care

• Improve equitable access to specialist dementia support for families with complex needs in line with Core20PLUS5 priorities

• Support the DSB service approach to delivering flexible, person-centred support (home visits, virtual and clinic appointments) to minimise barriers related to transport, mobility, digital exclusion or caring responsibilities

• Support identification of gaps in access and inform continuous improvement, reducing health inequalities within the service area

• Improve service reach into marginalised groups including Young onset Dementia; Adults with learning disability; and ethnic minority groups including traveller/Roma communities

Professional Practice & Accountability:

Clinical

· Identify complexities of dementia using advanced communication, negotiation and diplomacy skills

· Provide advice and support on complex care transitions for people with dementia and their carers/families to reduce the frequency of crisis situations

· Recognise the limits of own competency and the professional boundaries

 

Evaluation & quality improvement

· Collect and review quantitative and qualitative data to evaluate and audit the Admiral Nurse Service within Dementia Support Bucks and for service improvement and development

· Liaise with Dementia UK Insights and Evaluation team where appropriate, to ensure that the impact and effectiveness of Admiral Nurse interventions are well evaluated

· Advise and support on the development and delivery of work streams as part of Age UK Buckinghamshire’s dementia strategy, where appropriate

· Be aware of current research related to dementia treatments/interventions and support people with dementia/carers/families to get involved in research where appropriate

Governance and compliance

· Where Safeguarding concerns are present, take appropriate and timely actions in line with Age UK Buckinghamshire policies and procedures

· Ensure that contact records are up to date, maintained and stored appropriately in line with GDPR

· Identify and record risks to the Admiral Nurse service, escalating appropriately

· Be fully aware of and comply with all relevant data protection legislation including the UK GDPR, Data Protection Act (1998) and Caldicott Principles in relation to protecting the confidentiality of patient and service-user information and enabling appropriate information sharing

· To develop own competence through use of the Admiral Nurse Practice Standards Framework using resources provided by Dementia UK and the Admiral Nurse Academy

· To attend and actively participate in practice development, clinical supervision, and continuing professional development as supported by Dementia UK and the Admiral Nurse Academy

· Ensure all nursing practice is carried out in accordance with the agreed policies and procedures of Age UK Buckinghamshire and the NMC Code 2015.  

· Ensure compliance with Age UK Buckinghamshire governance requirements, including all mandatory training 

Principles

The service is committed to the following principles:

1. Care

We lead with compassion and care — in every interaction, with clients, carers, colleagues and partners.

2. Respect

We create safe, inclusive spaces where people feel valued and connected — across communities, cultures, and organisations.

3. Collaboration

We work side by side — building trust, sharing knowledge, respecting expertise and learning from one another to give joined-up support.

4. Ambition

We strive to do better — challenging ourselves and the system to improve support for people living with dementia and their carers.

 

Equal Opportunities
We want our services to be more representative of the community we serve. We encourage equity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace and encourage applications from our wonderful rainbow of talent in Bucks and from people of all ages.

Please note that this job description serves to provide an illustrative example of the duties and responsibilities the post holder will undertake during the course of their normal duties. It is not therefore an exhaustive list and the post holder may be required to undertake other responsibilities and duties that correspond with the band.

 

Person Specification

To support your application for this post we strongly recommend that you complete the Dementia UK Pre Admiral Nurse elearning module.

Key: 

A= Application 

I = Interview 

Qualifications and Continued Professional Development 

Essential 

Desirable 

Assessed 

Registered Nurse (RN/RNMH/RNLD)

Postgraduate qualification in relevant field, or evidence of specialist training/education within the field of dementia equivalent to this level

Further specialist training/education within the field of dementia equivalent to a Masters levels

Evidence of continued professional development/training in relevant areas, including dementia and leadership 

Commitment to continued professional and practice development 

Experience 

Significant post registration clinical experience of supporting people with dementia and their carers/families 

Experience of: 

· completing holistic nursing assessments

· providing bio-psychosocial interventions

· working as an autonomous practitioner 

· professional supervision and development/mentoring staff

· audit/evaluation of clinical practice 

· collaborative/multi-agency working 

Experience in service specific setting

Experience of facilitating and delivering training/ development of staff 

Experience of leading/managing a service 

Experience of supporting practice development/ quality improvement

Experience of service monitoring, reporting and evaluation 

Skills and Knowledge 

Ability to demonstrate: 

· person-centred care 

· therapeutic skills

· triadic relationship centred working

· sharing knowledge 

· delivering best practice

· critical reflective practice

Skills to enable clinical leadership, including: 

· strong communication skills 

· good facilitation/presentation skills 

· ability to influence change 

· ability to act as a decision maker and advocate 

· expert clinical practice 

· the ability to use appropriate information technology, including MS office software to enable efficient service delivery

Knowledge to enable clinical leadership, including an understanding of: 

· Admiral Nursing and its application 

· relevant policies/national strategy in relation to dementia care 

· evidence based practice in dementia care and practical application within the relevant setting 

Understanding of local/national skills and competency frameworks 

Values and Attributes 

Ability to build constructive relationships with warmth and empathy 

Ability to treat families affected by dementia with respect and dignity 

Working together for people with dementia/ carers

Demonstrates compassion and a caring nature 

Demonstrates a commitment to quality of care 

Demonstrates integrity and respect 

Other requirements 

A full and valid UK driving license

Principles

Terms and Conditions

- The position is hybrid, with flexibility to work in the office, the community and from home on occasion

- When home-based, use of a fully functional computer with webcam is essential to ensure regular contact with the team. A computer and mobile phone will be provided

- Employees are entitled to 28 working days holiday per full time role per calendar year. In addition, you will also be entitled to all the Public and Bank holidays in England

- The Charity meets the current legislation by providing a pension scheme. All employees are enrolled in the opt in scheme and if they wish to opt out must complete appropriate paperwork.

Please also note that in order to prepare you for becoming an Admiral Nurse, candidates are encouraged to complete the ‘Pre-Admiral Nursing Module’. This could be in advance of the interviews or upon an offer of employment being made. 

 

Application Process

To apply, and see Admiral Nurse candidate pack and FAQs, please visit the Age UK Buckinghamshire 

· Cover letter maximum of 2 sides A4, explaining your motivation to apply for the role and how you meet the criteria                specified in the job description

· Closing Date:  11th November 2026