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This paper seeks to provide an overview of The Admiral Nurse Academy, which provides a web‐based resource for the clinical and academic development of all admiral nurses. Its role is to: facilitate changes to practice development and group supervision; support knowledge development and learning and regulate the Admiral Nurse Induction Programme. The introduction of the Admiral Nurse Competency Framework in 2003 marked its beginning.

The paper provides background on the development and role of Admiral Nursing and an overview of The Admiral Nurse Academy in providing training.

The need for Admiral Nurses to develop a transparent framework of regulating their practice and learning is consistent both with developments in nursing more widely and with recent UK policy emphasis on enhancing the quality of the dementia care workforce. In addition to offering a clinical and academic pathway tailored to each Admiral Nurse, the academy offers a route for those practicing at an advanced level to ensure their clinical expertise and leadership skills are commensurate with master's level qualifications. Dementia UK promotes and maintains the business development of admiral nursing. A senior Admiral Nurse group maintains and oversees the academy.

At a time when public sector resources are shrinking whilst demands on care services and calls for improved care quality are increasing, The Admiral Nurse Academy offers a timely reminder of the importance of practice development for specialist nurses working with people with dementia and their family carers wherever they may be in the service system and whatever their level of need.

This paper aims to discuss professionals working in partnership with family carers and the importance of learning from their experiences in designing and delivering support to themselves and people with dementia.

Working in partnership with carers is a key goal of policy and practice. This paper demonstrates how this can work in practice.

Key issues are synthesized, drawing on the stories of three carers who shared their stories as part of the original conference workshop on which the paper is based.

Lessons for professionals about the nature of the dementia caring journey and dimensions of good practice are highlighted.

This paper seeks to provide a summary and explanation of the legal aspects of recent changes to the UK retirement law.

The paper provides background to the concept of retirement in the context of the recent abolition of the default retirement age in the UK. The paper looks at key changes to the UK retirement law and the subsequent implications for employers.

The question of how to deal with older members of staff, particularly those who have worked for a business for a long time, is often a difficult one for managers. In the UK, at present, employers must follow a fairly strict retirement process that penalises them for failing to comply, but which does allow them to choose to retire an employee without the employee having any say in the matter. From 1 October 2011, it will be age discrimination to dismiss someone by reason of retirement and this will have implications for businesses that employ staff.

The abolition of the default retirement age has the potential to have a large impact on businesses, creating difficulties but also potential opportunities.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the experiences and perspectives of residents with dementia living in a care home.

The paper reviews current sources of evidence about “the care home experience”, including material drawn from: research instruments, interviews, observational methods and phenomenological research which aims to capture the lived experiences of residents.

Research that is attempting to capture the lived experiences of residents further adds to the understanding of quality of life (QoL) and quality of care. Specifically, residents prioritise non‐disease‐related domains of QoL, which is somewhat different than those identified by relatives, care home staff and “objective” measures.

Not only is it evident that residents are able to describe aspects of their situation but they appear to retain a sense of self and identity. There is a distinctive need for assessment of QoL amongst residents with dementia that places their subjective view of this concept at its core.

This paper aims to offer a family carer's personal account of the importance of relationships between the person with dementia, their carer, family, friends, health and social care professionals, and the workforce who offer care, from pre‐diagnosis through 16 years of decline to death.

A personal account from the point of view of a former carer of a person with dementia.

The thread throughout the narrative of this paper is the necessity for everyone who comes into contact with the person with dementia to develop a much greater understanding of what it is like to live with the condition and as a result, how more enlightened care and support can be offered. Central to this is access to expert advice concerning dementia care and support in order to achieve the main goal of protecting and maintaining relationships.

The author draws on personal experiences and reflects on the lessons learned during the time as her husband's carer and information she wished she had possessed earlier.

This article aims to describe the aims, role and impact of a specialist intermediate care service for people with dementia in Kent, entitled the Home Treatment Service (HTS). The authors reflect on two workshops about the service, delivered as part of the “Dementia Care: A Positive Future” conference held in May 2010.

The 45 participants in the workshops included service providers, professionals and family carers. The aims and nature of the service were outlined by members of the clinical team as: adopting a multi‐professional approach, emphasising the value of a shared assessment process and having a commitment to flexible and intensive working within a person centred framework.

Focusing on the HTS's work with care homes, presenters offered case illustrations to highlight its collaborative approach to working with service users, staff, managers and families to improve the quality of life for users presenting with “challenging behaviour” and preventing placement breakdown. Discussion with participants explored the obstacles and opportunities in working productively with care homes. The HTS's potential to reduce reliance on anti‐psychotic medication was specifically highlighted. In addition to improving user and carer quality of life, outcomes of HTS intervention include a reduction in and quicker discharge from, mental health hospitals and maintaining the person in their existing setting.

The importance of including all parties – the older person with dementia, relatives, care staff and professionals – in co‐creating “solutions” was identified as one the HTS's keys to success.

This paper seeks to demonstrate the role of person‐centred assessment in improving the standard of care for people with dementia in acute hospitals.

The paper offers a review of recent research and literature on person centred care highlighting its role in acute hospital settings. Case studies are also used by way of illustration.

Acute hospitals are inherently complex environments which pose particular challenges for the care and management of people with dementia. Evidence drawn from the literature and recent research suggests that person‐centred assessment has the capacity to enhance the quality of care for people with dementia and improve outcomes. Patients who are understood, listened to, and responded to tend to display lower levels of challenging behaviour, are calmer, more receptive to accepting treatment and have higher levels of well being. Although experienced nurses working in acute wards often have in‐depth knowledge of older peoples' health‐related needs, a reliance on inflexible “assessment frameworks” can distract them from focusing on the individual. The routinised nature of many ward environments, shift patterns, high staff turnover and weak clinical leadership also act as barriers. Person‐centred assessment can be employed to identify the needs of people with dementia based upon their life history and patterns of daily living; it can also underpin the design and delivery of person‐centred care and treatment throughout their hospital stay.

The capacity of person‐centred care to improve care suggests that it needs to be embedded in gerontological nursing practice in acute hospital settings as a clinical and managerial priority.