Devon Care Homes Nursing Education Forum

The Devon Care Homes Nursing Education Forum continues to go from strength to strength in 2026. Having launched in the summer of 2025, it has quickly become a valuable space for health and care professionals across Devon and beyond. The Forum meets monthly online for an hour, providing an opportunity to share knowledge, strengthen practice, and learn from sector experts. These sessions offer not only the chance to hear from experienced practitioners, but also to discuss real challenges faced in care settings and explore practical solutions together. Future sessions are shaped each month by participant feedback, ensuring topics and formats remain relevant and engaging. 

Our February session on skin care and wound management was led by Lucy Hernaman, whose experience and insight brought the topic to life for over 50 colleagues across the region. Lucy qualified as a nurse in 2009 and previously worked as a carer for six years, giving her a strong understanding of care from multiple perspectives. During the session, she shared practical guidance on basic skin care principles, wound care and tissue viability, and the importance of clear and accurate documentation. The discussion that followed allowed participants to share experiences and reflect on best practice in their own settings. 

Our March session focused on the importance of documentation in social care and was led by Sarah Butfield, a highly experienced nurse and Registered Manager of a care home in South Wales. Sarah shared valuable insights into why good documentation is central to high-quality care and safe practice. As she often reminds teams, “If it isn’t documented, it hasn’t been done.” The session explored how effective documentation supports continuity of care, accountability, and professional standards across care services.

April's session will focus on communication with the South Western Ambulance Service (SWAST). The presentation and Q&A will be led by Ali Mann, Paramedic and Safeguarding Specialist for SWAST, who is leading a new Community of Practice to strengthen collaboration and improve outcomes for residents and providers. Ali brings experience as an operational paramedic and a Dementia Practitioner across community, care home, and acute settings, giving valuable insight into the challenges care homes face and the support they require from ambulance services and the wider NHS. This session will be held on 29th April at 2pm via MS Teams. You can register for this session via our website.

In May's Forum, we will be joined by Mike Cuff, an experienced Registered Manager, who will be speaking about diabetic foot checks. Further details on this and other sessions will be available on our website in the coming weeks.

We are always keen to introduce new speakers and topics. If you have an area of interest and would consider sharing your experience, or if there are topics you would like us to explore, please do get in touch via email at ann@indagodevelopmet.co.uk. 

We look forward to welcoming you to our upcoming sessions as we continue learning together and strengthening practice across Devon’s care homes.