ELIZABETH CARE ®:

A Ground breaking course which is part of a visionary education programme for care staff across health and social care based on what frail older people and their families want  

The Elizabeth Care Practitioner and Nurse are developed in honour of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

  • A revolutionary new career pathway designed to bring professionalism to those caring for older people.
  • Based on the 360 Standard Framework that defines excellence from an older person’s perspective, integrating health and social care. 
  • Focuses on :

  • dignity and compassionate care, transforming the caring culture

  • includes on the job learning where a person can go from apprenticeship through to nurse qualifications designed around what older people want.

    Career pathway:

    3 distinct roles have been created in response to growing complexity of care.  The vision is that learning will include participants at Apprentice level and Foundation Degree upwards across health and social care settings.

  1. The Elizabeth Nurse will be:

    A practicing specialist registered nurse for older people (socio-gerontological model).  Responsible for leading to the delivery of good care and support to the person and achievement of demonstrable quality improvement outcomes for the person, their families and staff.

  2. Elizabeth Carer – A specialist carer for older people, a blend of care giver and everyday living assistant to the person. This might be an existing care assistant or new employee who wishes to join a new pathway in care of older people at Apprentice or Foundation Degree level.

Elizabeth Care Team training day

Elizabeth Care Team training day

Example of modules:

Supported by the Teaching Care Home

Supporting People with Dementia

Delivering Person Centred Outcomes

Maximising Quality of Daily Life

Teaching Care Homes - Delivering person centred outcomes through leadership and action learning: rather than the more traditional methods of learning the ethos of this is a culture of sharing and demonstrating best practice. This is done through innovative, forward thinking care homes being developed as learning centres where others come to seek support, observe good practice in action and can discuss behaviours and strategies and best practice that can be taken back to their own culture and organisation. The learning of the staff following Elizabeth Care® can therefore take place in a group setting enabling them to have discussions with staff in other homes facilitating a broader understanding and sharing of good practice.

No other courses span the needs of the individual person in the holistic manner that this approach does. Senior Tutor , University of Surrey

‘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
— Dr Susan Tresman, Chair, Dementia Friendly Surrey, Vice Chair and Lay Member for Quality and Governance, GWCCG
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.
— Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive
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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!
— Dot Gibson, General Secretary, NATIONAL PENSIONERS CONVENTION
“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.”
— Alan Young, Surrey County Councillor