These invaluable members of the health care team are often part of the supporting system for families caring for people with dementia and for the many demented elderly people who are living alone at home despite their illness. They are trained psychiatric nurses and many have also trained in general nursing and can therefore appreciate and understand the physical as well as the psychiatric problems. In some areas they are based in a hospital, attached to a psychiatrist’s team; in others they are attached to health centres. Sometimes they operate from both. The CPN liaises across all the different services – social services, geriatric service, psychiatric service — and may have to work closely with the general practitioner. Many of them have close links with the voluntary bodies in the locality. They do not carry out physical nursing tasks; these are the province of the district nurse. A CPN will usually become involved after the general practitioner has referred a patient for assessment to a psychiatric clinic or asked a psychogeriatrician to make a visit to the person’s home. In some areas, a general practitioner can himself initiate the CPN’s involvement.
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