Alan Young, Surrey County Councillor
"The County Council has responsibility for adult social care and I greatly welcome the contribution of
Elizabeth Care in raising skills and standards of professionalism in this important area of work. This is a
critically important initiative and I look forward to seeing it rolled out nationally.
I salute the efforts of the first Elizabeth Care students who are graduating today and send them my very
best wishes for their future work in this vitally important role. It is essential that we continue to train
sufficient carers to support our growing elderly population with dignity in their local communities."
Dr Susan Tresman
Chair, Dementia Friendly Surrey
Vice Chair and Lay Member for Quality and Governance
GWCCG
‘Dementia Friendly Surrey brings together Three Surrey CCG’s with funding awarded from the Prime
Minister’s Challenge on Dementia - matched with Funding from Surrey County Council to underwrite
an ambitious project to empower those with Dementia and their carers and families to live fulfilling lives
, fully included in their communities with dignity , compassion and opportunity .
We recognise the tremendous need for trained, compassionate nursing and care worker staff in
residential provision, nursing home, at home, in the community and acute hospital settings to gain new
skills to know more about how to treat those with dementia with dignity and put them at the heart of
decisions about their care. The scale on which these new skills need to be imparted through training
programmes is massive. Even where we have pooled Prime Minister’s challenge money across a county,
we cannot begin to impact on the workforce development to achieve higher levels of person centred
care, for those with long term conditions including dementia, on the scale we need.
We recognise that such a quantum leap in new training and skills needs the backing of and funding
from government – A government that is determined to make a difference to all those vulnerable people
with long term conditions in the wake of the Francis recommendations. On the basis of presentations
given to the DF Surrey project, it is my belief that The Elizabeth Nurse project and allied enriched care
worker project from 360 Forward can contribute an excellent model of training that could help realise
these ambitions’
Congratulations to the first cohort of the Elizabeth Nurse and Care Worker Programme celebrated here
today. Invaluable training and skills have been injected into the professions represented in the Elizabeth
initiative. This has great potential to empower them to enhance the degree to which dignity and
resident/patient choice is put at the heart of their practice.
A very valuable addition to the national focus in this vital area of health and social care
Dot Gibson, General Secretary,
NATIONAL PENSIONERS CONVENTION
Frail elderly and disabled people and especially those suffering dementia deserve the best possible
care. However, for too long geriatric nurses and care workers have been side-lined and taken for
granted, yet their job is a vocation, requiring compassion, patience and understanding as well as
professional skills.
It is therefore a huge step forward that the 360 Forward team stood up as care-worker champions,
tirelessly bringing their understanding, experience and skills together and gaining the support of
Surrey University to launch the Elizabeth Nurse and Care Worker Programme. Let us now join hands to
work for this programme to be recognised and adopted nationally.
The National Pensioners Convention congratulates all concerned. Graduation day for the first students
in this important programme is a time for celebration. Well done!
Professor Martin Green OBE
Chief Executive
This is an exciting new initiative currently being formulated to transform the approach to care and
support across the health and social care system which will significantly enhance the status and
professional recognition of the care workforce.
The idea of the Elizabeth Nurse and the Elizabeth Care Practitioner has been developed by leading
practitioners in the field, with the objective of providing holistic, high quality and personalised care to
our older citizens.
What we are looking for immediately, is some funding to pump prime the further development of the
concept and materials, which will form the foundation for this new approach.
The Elizabeth initiative has received positive endorsement from a range of key stakeholders and has
been presented to Ministers and other leading politicians, all of whom have received it with great
enthusiasm.
“The 360 Standard Framework creates communities where older people want to live, relatives want to
visit and staff want to work. This system delivers for everyone and I have no hesitation in
recommending it.”
This is for quality providers wishing to stimulate a sea change in the way in which care and support is
delivered, a model that will define quality care for the 21st-century.