Let’s talk about… dementia

Sarah Mason-Parker

Sarah has been working for the ICE Benevolent Fund since 2018. She is passionate about the Ben Fund’s mission to support ICE members and their families wherever they are in the world.

Rachel Watson

Rachel trained as a mental health nurse in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and has worked in older persons mental health and dementia care for almost 30 years. She has experience in day unit, community and general hospital settings, becoming an Admiral Nurse in 2016. Within Admiral Nursing Rachel developed and led a Community Admiral Nurse Service in the Northeast of England, which latterly encompassed dementia advice and support services. She has also worked on the Admiral Nurse Dementia Helpline supporting families living with dementia nationally. 

More recently, Rachel joined Newcastle University as part of the Pri-Dem project, testing an intervention in primary care to improve support to people living with dementia and their families. 

Rachel is passionate about raising awareness of dementia and has developed and delivered training for various audiences including families living with dementia, health and social care colleagues and charities. She now works as an admiral nurse within Dementia UK’s Dementia at Work team, supporting organisations to raise awareness of dementia enabling best support for their colleagues and customers. 

Rachel was ‘Highly commended’ in the Foundation of Nursing Studies (FONS) Sue Pembrey Award 2018: Celebrating Nurse Leadership: 

‘Rachel is passionate about patients and families and how she works and intervenes with families to enable a balance of care of the person with a dementia and for their nearest loved one who is often the carer.’ 

This year, Rachel is honoured to have been awarded the Queen’s Nurse title in recognition of her commitment to ongoing learning, leadership and excellence in healthcare, whilst demonstrating a continuing passion and enthusiasm for nursing.