Deborah Sturdy Nurse Advisor, Older People - Department of Health London

Deborah has worked with older people throughout her career. She has held a number of positions including posts in practice, research, management and policy. Her clinical practice and management experience extends from rehabilitation, acute care, day hospitals, dementia services, primary care and Care Homes. Following completion of her MSc she took up a Research Nurse post at the University of Kent working on assessment of older people in long- term care and was part of an international collaborative research effort. Subsequently she was appointed jointly between primary health and social care to develop improved pathways of access for older people using health and social services.

Deborah is currently working as Nurse Advisor for Older People at the Department of Health. She leads on all health and social care policy issues relating to nursing older people. As the lead nurse, she contributed to major policy development in this area including National Service Framework for Older People, NHS Funded Nursing Care and the Single Assessment Process. Deborah is committed to providing a visible leadership for nurses working with older people in England. She has developed the first national network for Consultant Nurses and developed for the first time three leadership programmes for Nurses working with Older People. These programmes included nurses working in Acute, Mental Health, Primary Care and Care Homes.

She is a passionate advocate for nursing older people and has been instrumental in developing a number of initiatives to promote good care practices across the speciality, and writing in professional journals.