Admiral Nurses, Dementia UK and Alzheimer's Society: the free help and how to reach it

The organisations overlap, which is useful: if you cannot get through to one, or the advice does not fit your situation, you can ring another. It also helps to know that the charities in this table can tell you what might help, and the council is the organisation that can arrange some of it. You will usually need both.

The name comes from the charity's founder: Dementia UK explains that Admiral Nurses were named by the family of Joseph Levy, who had vascular dementia and was known as "Admiral Joe" because of his love of sailing. Dementia UK's page on what an Admiral Nurse is lists the kind of help they give: ways to keep talking to somebody whose communication is going, ways of preventing or managing fear and distress, a conversation about the benefits a family may be able to claim, and help getting additional care and support when a family is struggling to cope.

Admiral Nurses are not available in every area. The NHS says that in some parts of the country it provides Admiral Nurses in partnership with Dementia UK, which means some families have a community Admiral Nurse service where they live and others do not. The helpline and the booked appointments are how a family without a local service can still speak to an Admiral Nurse.

1. 1

   Ring or email the helpline

   The first route

   The Admiral Nurse Dementia Helpline is answered by Admiral Nurses and is free to call. You do not need to prepare anything, though a pen and paper helps. The number is 0800 888 6678, as shown on Dementia UK's helpline page, which also has the email address and a contact form.
2. 2

   Use the live webchat if a phone call is hard

   In writing

   Dementia UK runs a webchat with an Admiral Nurse on its website. It can suit you if you would rather not be overheard, or want a copy of the conversation to read again later.
3. 3

   Book an appointment for a longer conversation

   Phone, video or in person

   Dementia UK offers booked appointments with an Admiral Nurse, by phone or video, and face-to-face clinics. These suit a family with several questions to work through at a time they have chosen.
4. 4

   Ask whether there is a local service

   Where you live

   Dementia UK says the helpline can tell you whether there is an Admiral Nurse service in your area, and that you can also ask your GP or social worker about a community Admiral Nurse service.

The links for each route are on Dementia UK's own pages: the Admiral Nurse Dementia Helpline, the live webchat, virtual clinic appointments and face-to-face clinic appointments. Each page sets out when the service runs.

It can help to have a few notes in front of you when you call: what has changed in the last month, what time of day things are hardest, and the one question you most want answered. A nurse can give better advice about a specific afternoon than about dementia in general. If a pattern keeps coming back, keeping a care diary is a simple way to show it.

Each of these has its own page: the Alzheimer's Society Dementia Support Line, the Dementia Support Forum, its search for dementia support near you and its companionship service, then the Age UK Advice Line and Age UK's page on dementia support services and groups.

Dementia UK and the Alzheimer's Society are different charities, and it is easy to mix them up. The simplest way to hold the difference is by who answers: Dementia UK's helpline is answered by specialist dementia nurses, and the Alzheimer's Society's support line by trained dementia advisers. Both are useful. For a question about symptoms, distress or a hospital stay, a nurse is a good first call. For finding what exists in your own town, the Alzheimer's Society search and your local Age UK tend to know more.

Two kinds of local help have their own pages on this site. Dementia cafes are informal groups where you and your relative can go together, and dementia assistance cards are small cards that tell a shop assistant or bus driver that the person needs a little patience.

If your relative has not been diagnosed yet, getting a dementia diagnosis explains the GP appointment and the memory clinic in more detail. The NHS page on how to get a dementia diagnosis sets out what the doctor should talk to you about afterwards, and it is worth reading before that appointment so you can ask for anything that was missed.

The council is the route to practical help at home. Ring adult social services, or apply for a needs assessment on GOV.UK, which finds your council from a postcode. The NHS describes the sort of help social services may arrange: carers for washing and dressing, meals, equipment and adaptations, and day centres. The care needs assessment explains what happens at one and how to prepare, and the NHS page on dementia, social services and the NHS is a good short summary.

Where needs are mainly about health and are complex, the NHS may pay for all of a person's care. That is NHS Continuing Healthcare, and the NHS is clear that a dementia diagnosis alone does not mean a person qualifies. It is still worth asking about if your relative's needs are severe.

The Carers UK helpline and other support page has its phone line and email helpline, and its support where you live directory lists local carers' organisations. We have a separate page on the free help for family carers, which goes through these and the carer benefits in more depth, so we will not repeat it here.

The carer's assessment is the one to ask for this week if you are doing most of the caring. What is a carer's assessment explains what happens at one and what to say, and the NHS page on carer's assessments lists what to have ready. When the thing you need most is time off, respite for dementia covers the ways a break can be arranged, including a carer coming to the house so that your relative does not have to go anywhere.

When the need is hands-on care, there are two routes, and they can run side by side. The council's needs assessment may lead to care it arranges, or to a direct payment you use to pay for care yourself. If you are waiting for that, or your relative will be paying privately, you can hire a carer directly. The dementia care guide explains what a carer does at each stage, and the cost of care for dementia sets out what each kind of care costs.

On PrimeCarers you can search for carers near you and compare their rates, dementia experience and reviews before you contact anybody. PrimeCarers is an introductory service rather than an agency, and carers are self-employed. Before a carer appears, their identity and right to work are checked, along with an enhanced DBS on the Update Service, and they have an online interview. Separately, carers are insured while they work. We do not check qualifications, training or references, so ask each carer about their dementia experience and training, and read the references on their profile.

A paid carer and the free services work well together. An Admiral Nurse can help you think through what a carer should do on a difficult afternoon, and a carer who has been told what the nurse suggested can put it into practice every day.