Launching a major event by getting everyone on their feet for a rousing song or two may sound more football than NHS, but that was precisely how the highly-successful South West Dementia Partnership Summit 2010 began at Taunton Racecourse in April.

Robert Hurst bravely led from the front as more than 100 delegates from health and social care and from the voluntary sector were invited to try ‘singing for the brain’, as developed by the Alzheimer’s Society to help people live well with dementia.

The Summit was chaired by Professor Jane Gilliard, National Dementia Strategy Programme Manager for Implementation.

Sir Ian Carruthers, OBE, Chief Executive of the South West Strategic Health Authority and a member of the National Dementia Implementation Board, set out the region’s commitment to improving dementia care ahead of the national strategy’s five-year timetable.

He said that success would mean a revolution in the way dementia care was provided by the public sector, in care homes and in people’s homes.

Sir Ian added that innovation meant sharing best practice and re-shaping systems around service users and carers. This would require passion, pace and drive.

As well as presentations and workshops, the summit included a ‘Dragons In The Summit Den’, with a specialist panel considering proposals from teams.

A detailed joint review of dementia services has already been carried out across the South West, revealing areas of excellence but also inconsistencies. Action plans have been drawn up by each Primary Care Trust and local authority.

Clinical champions for dementia have been identified in hospitals across the South West, and there has been scrutiny of all NHS organisations’ dementia services as part of their operating plans. The regional clinical leads for dementia care in general hospitals is Alison Moon alison.moon@ubht.nhs.uk.

You can download presentations, view photos and watch videos of the Summit at www.southwestdementiapartnership.org.uk/implementation/summit/