Juni West, Research Development Lead, Older People’s Services
As a research development lead nurse, I try and demystify what people think about research, and offer opportunities for clinical staff, people who access our services and their family supporters to work together to help us design research projects and apply for funding to run them.
Ultimately, research and evaluation of our services involves all of us and we should all question why we do things the way we do.
I have been with NSFT for more than 32 years and have worked my way from ward-based staff nurse to clinical team leader. I am learning a great deal from people living with dementia along the way.
I’ve enjoyed my career transition from clinical practitioner to research nurse. It has made me think differently about how I work and has given me the opportunity to study at a level I would never have thought possible for me when I first started out in mental health nursing.
I am an approved trainer in Dementia Care Mapping™ which is an observational method that helps us assess the quality of our care from the perspective of people living with dementia https://www.bradford.ac.uk/dementia/dcm/. The last course was for a team working from Carlton Court in Lowestoft supporting people with dementia living in care homes in 2022. I’m part of the research training group and deliver online courses and advice sessions with Corinna, on designing and conducting service evaluations.