Dementia: a new series with Dr Jane Pritchard – No. 1
An Introduction to Dementia

Dr Jane Pritchard begins a new fortnightly series about dementia, sharing advice and practical information for local families and carers

Dr Jane Pritchard is an Admiral Nurse and dementia specialist at Home Instead Hammersmith & Chiswick. In this new series for The Chiswick Calendar, she will share information, practical tips and advice for people living with dementia, their families and those caring for them.

The series will cover everything from understanding dementia and getting a diagnosis to communication, caring for someone with dementia and, importantly, looking after yourself as a family carer.

Guest blog by Dr Jane Pritchard

Welcome to this blog, launched to mark World Alzheimer’s Day 2026. My name is Dr Jane Pritchard, and I am an Admiral Nurse working at Home Instead.

Admiral Nurses are dementia-specialist nurses who work with people living with dementia and their families, in collaboration with the charity Dementia UK. The support of Admiral Nurses has been described as life changing by families, including Penny, Aqib and Shahbanu, whose stories you can hear in this short video.

Admiral Nurses help families to communicate with and connect to loved ones living with dementia through passing on techniques and building skills. They work with people with dementia who experience distress and look at how to prevent or reduce this. They can also give guidance and information to families on practical topics such as financial benefits and provide emotional support.

Admiral Nurses work in a variety of settings, across the NHS, care homes and hospitals. At the time of writing, however, I am the only Admiral Nurse working in domiciliary care (which is a private company providing care in people’s homes).

In my role at Home Instead’s Hammersmith & Chiswick branch, I provide the same support to families as other Admiral Nurses, but what makes my role different is that I also support, mentor and train our professional carers. This ensures that they have the skills and knowledge necessary to provide outstanding care.

Home Instead is a national, award-winning domiciliary care company that has been operating since 2005. At the Hammersmith & Chiswick branch, we provide both hourly and live-in care and, at the time of writing, are rated Outstanding by the CQC.

Carer visits last a minimum of one hour because we believe that high-quality care is built on meaningful relationships. It also depends on excellent staff training. Our dementia training is certified by City & Guilds, has received the Princess Royal Training Award, and was shortlisted for a national dementia award in 2026.

I qualified as a mental health nurse in 2003 and have worked with people living with dementia for most of my career. I spent 13 years as a Consultant Nurse specialising in dementia, working in community settings across both the NHS and private home care organisations.

Over the years, I have written extensively about dementia-related topics in academic journals and national newspapers, and have also spoken at dementia conferences, as a visiting lecturer at the University of Northampton, and have been interviewed on the radio.

My doctoral research explored the experience of hope among younger people living with dementia. In its time, this was ground-breaking, as the prevailing view was that this was a condition associated with no hope, no quality of life, and no ability to live well.

I discovered through my research that this was not the case, and that hope was something that people living with dementia were able to maintain and cherish. It showed parallels with happiness, and could be strengthened through experiences such as spending time in nature, keeping busy, and nurturing relationships with others. Home Instead shares this philosophy and works to enable people with dementia to maintain hope and even flourish.

My passion is making a positive difference. I remember clearly, in my early days as a student nurse, a support worker on a dementia ward who was sitting gently holding the hand of a man with advanced dementia. He was normally very agitated and even aggressive towards the staff, but with her he was calm and relaxed, and was smiling at her.

She spoke to him with fondness, telling me, “the thing about these people Jane is that they are special”. I realised that she was right and decided soon after that I wanted to work with people with dementia when I qualified as a nurse. I could see that with dedication, compassion and the right approach there was so much potential to change lives for the better.

In dementia care things have moved on considerably since then, with person-centred care becoming the norm, and the voices of people with dementia finally being heard.

Care wherever possible is now being led by the person, and stigma around dementia is lessening with every person, especially those in the public eye who have spoken frankly about dementia, either their own, or their experience as a family member. So much work has already been done, but there is still plenty more to do. I hope this blog will contribute in some small way.

This blog is primarily intended for families, but people living with dementia and others close to them may also find it helpful. Its aim is to share information, offer practical tips and advice, and, importantly, to support family carers in looking after themselves in what is an incredibly hard role. I hope you find it useful.

< See all Dementia Care articles from Home Instead
 

In the next blog we’ll be looking at brain changes and common early symptoms.

Dr Jane Pritchard is a qualified mental health nurse with over 25 years’ experience supporting people living with dementia and their families. She spent 16 years as a Consultant Dementia Nurse, including ten as an Admiral Nurse. She holds a BSc in Psychology and a Clinical Doctorate, and her research into hope highlights its importance for people living with dementia, challenging the stigma surrounding the condition. Jane is a published author and speaker, and is passionate about amplifying the voice of people living with dementia and helping families live well with the condition.