Dr Zena Aldridge
Social care nurse fellow, NIHR and Independent dementia nurse consultant
Zena Adridge’s career in health and social care has spanned four decades, initially in domiciliary care and then as a nursing auxiliary in acute and community settings, before undertaking her nurse training in 2003. She qualified as a mental health nurse at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in 2003 completing a master's in mental health at UEA in 2013. More recently, she has undertaken doctoral studies at De Montfort University and completed her thesis ‘Relationships, morality and emotion: their impact and influence on nursing home staff decision-making when a resident with advanced dementia deteriorates’ in November 2022.
Dr Aldridge has relished the challenge of less traditional roles throughout her career but always with a keen focus on improving the outcomes and experiences of care for older people, people living with dementia, their families and carers. Her specialist interest includes care of older people, dementia care, frailty, palliative and end of life care, continence management, case management, biopsychosocial care as well as service integration and quality improvement. She is a published author of multiple journal articles and contributor to three books.
Given her various areas of interest, skills and experience, Dr Aldridge holds a portfolio of roles including social care nurse fellow, NIHR Nursing and Midwifery Office; regional clinical lead (dementia) NHSE&I; consultant editor Nursing Older People and independent dementia nurse consultant.
Zena Adridge will be speaking at the following session on Thursday 24 October:
Caring for and communicating with adults with cognitive impairment and mental health conditions