Admiral nurses are helping care home staff to understand residents’ behaviour and adopt a relationship-centred culture, say Victoria Elliot and colleagues

This article outlines the development of distress reaction training in a large care home charity, provided by directly employed My Home Life Admiral nurses, who are mental health nurses specialising in dementia. Reference is made to the limitations of a person-centred approach to care, and the importance of relationship-centred care, which underpins the My Home Life social movement for quality improvement in care homes.

The authors argue that relationship-centred care is a more helpful approach to improve the lived experience and wellbeing of residents, relatives and staff. Potentially, it might also help to address high staff turnover in the care home sector.