Janice McGrory appointed new dementia nurse consultant by Pennine Acute Trust

Janice McGrory the new Dementia Nurse Consultant at Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust

Janice McGrory has appointed a new Dementia Nurse Consultant by the Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust  to take the operational and strategic lead for the delivery of specialist dementia expertise across its hospitals and community services.

As one of her first tasks will be to advise and lead on the Trust’s dementia strategy and deliver dementia training to all grades of staff who work across Rochdale Infirmary, he Royal Oldham Hospital, North Manchester and Fairfield General Hospitals and community services.

Ms McGrory has over 20 years’ experience in working with older people and those with cognitive impairment and has also won national awards for her work around dementia. Qualifying as a registered general nurse in 1986, she has worked in a number of different specialties and hospitals throughout the country, but most recently she was lead nurse for dementia and delirium at Salford Royal Hospital.

The key functions of the post include leading on the delivery of the Trust’s Dementia Strategy, working collaboratively across professional and organisational boundaries to provide advice and support staff in undertaking holistic and comprehensive assessments of patient need, ensuring appropriate admission and timely and safe discharge of patients known or suspected to be living with dementia.

Ms McGrory will work with the Trust’s Learning & Organisational Development team in the provision of dementia related education and training to staff and acting as an expert advisory resource, she will ensure the co-ordination and delivery of dementia care services in accordance with the national dementia strategy and the Trust’s strategic objectives.

Commenting on her appointment, Ms McGrory said: “I am particularly looking forward to meeting and working with the medical and nursing teams across the four hospital sites and collaborating with staff to improve the experience of care for people living with dementia and their carers. I am also looking forward to working with Dementia United, to ensure that Pennine Acute Trust plays a substantial role in the Greater Manchester approach to developing dementia care. Improving dementia care often includes changing or challenging culture and beliefs, but by taking new approaches to caring for people with dementia, there are obvious benefits not only to the patient and carer, but for staff as well.”

A focus on dementia is a key quality priority for the Trust and is included as one of the ten elements in the Trust’s newly launched 'Raising the bar on quality' action plan published in December 2015.

Dr Suzanne Smith, Assistant Director of Nursing (Safeguarding) at Pennine Acute Trust, said: “In the region of one quarter of all our patients are likely to be living with dementia and in the UK there are in the region of 5.5 million carers supporting people living with dementia. Pennine Acute Trust has a forward thinking and challenging dementia strategy which addresses the national drive to improve services for patients living with dementia and also addresses what patients and carers say they need. In order to deliver on this strategy, we recognised the need for strong, authoritative and informed leadership with a track record in clinical excellence and innovation within the NHS. Janice ticks all of those boxes.”