Skip to main content
Lesley Butcher

Ms Lesley Butcher

Senior Lecturer: Adult Nursing

School of Healthcare Sciences

Email
ButcherL3@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 29225 11674

Overview

I have been qualified as a Registered Nurse (Adult and Mental Health) for approximately 26 years. I have worked in various roles including Advanced Practice as a Nurse Practitioner and Non-Medical Prescriber. I have experience and expertise in working with older people in Community settings. I have worked as a Lecturer in Nursing at Cardiff University since 2015.

I have a special interest in working with people who are living with Dementia. I am passionate about promoting dignity, emotional care and understanding the lived experience. I have a Masters' degree in Psychotherapy and have a psychodynamic focus to my clinical work. I seek to convey the importance of empathy during my lectures and via experiential teaching methods.

I was recently granted funding for an engagement campaign titled 'A person like me' which endeavours to promote upholding the human rights of people living with dementia in care homes. I am currently completing some research on this.

I am planning to commence my PhD in Dementia Care, using a phenomenological approach to exploring the attitudes and beliefs of staff in relation to working with people whose behavior is perceived as 'challenging'. I continue to work in Nursing Homes for people with dementia in my spare time.

I work with Undergraduates as well as Postgraduate Masters students in Nursing and other disciplines.

Publication

2024

2020

2019

2018

2007

2005

2004

2003

Articles

Conferences

Research

I am currently researching the barriers and facilitators to upholding the human rights of people living with dementia in care homes. This involved organising a recent human rights stakeholder event, including people living with dementia, carers, professionals working in the care industry and students. Thematic analysis of 9 focus groups will be completed and published early in 2021.

I have a research interest in understanding the lived experience of Dementia. My intended PhD will use a phenomenological approach to explore staff perceptions and attitudes towards people with dementia who exhibit behaviours they perceive to be 'challenging'.

In previous years I have conducted research into 'Locus of Control' and the relationship to Behavioural Therapy (Biofeedback) for people with functional bowel disorders.

Teaching

I am currently teaching on the Undergraduate Nursing Programme in addition to Postgraduate Teaching and Masters' Programmes. My main teaching interest is in Dementia care and I teach varying elements of this accross all programmes.

Undergraduate Programme teaching:

Clinical skills sessions, Communication workshops, Mental Capacity and Cognitive Assessment lectures, Reflection seminars. Specialties: Older people and Dementia care study days.

Postgraduate and Masters Programme teaching:

Non-Medical Prescribing, Clinical Patient Assessment, Advanced Physical Assessment, Minor Illness, 'At risk' adults (previously POVA) and Dementia Care.

Biography

I have been working as a Lecturer in Nursing at Cardiff University since 2015. I completed my Bachelor of Nursing degree in 1994 at Deakin University, Geelong, Australia. My degree qualified me as a General and Mental Health Nurse. I obtained my Masters' degree in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy at the Tavistock Centre in London in 2007. I have worked in both Adult and Mental Health Nursing fields throughout my career. I have lived and worked in the United Kingdom since 1999. During this time I have had a wide range of experience in hospitals and Community setting including (in reverse chroniological order with most recent first):

  • Nursing Home Manager (Homes specialising in Dementia care)
  • Clinical Nurse Specialist (Short stay, Nurse-led ward within a Community Hospital- physical/emotional/cogitive assessment and prescribing for mostly older people with medical conditions requiring short term interventions)
  • Community Matron (Case-managing, rapid response, assessment and prescribing for patients in the Community living with a range of long term conditions)
  • Community Chronic Disease Nurse Practitioner (Case-managing, rapid response, assessment and prescribing for patients in the Community who were living with chronic respiratory disease)
  • Respiratory Nurse Specialist (Within a GP practice, assessing and prescribing for patients with Asthma, COPD and other respiratory complaints)
  • Biofeedback Nurse Specialist (Nurse-led clinic for patients with functional bowel disorders)
  • Research Nurse (Coordinating local and Multi-centre studies with Gastrointestinal medicine)
  • Staff Nurse (Colorectal ward)
  • Staff Nurse (Prison ward)
  • Staff Nurse (General medical/surgical wards)
  • Qualified as a Registered Nurse at Deakin University in 1994.

In addition to the above, I have continued to work for a Nursing agency, to maintain competence in a variety of practice areas.

Professional memberships

  • Royal College of Nursing
  • Nursing and Midwifery Council

Committees and reviewing

  • Editorial Board member for 'Signpost'; a journal specialising in Older People's Mental Health