Everyone counts: planning for patients 2013-14
This guidance outlines the incentives and levers that will be used to improve services from April 2013. It identifies an outcomes indicator for dementia and highlights the value of commissioning primary care services in a way that secures improved diagnosis rates. Read more »
How would I know? What can I do?
This guide, developed by the National Council for Palliative Care, for carers and those who work with people with dementia provides advice on how to help with pain and distress in people with the condition. Read more »
Dementia READ codes
This knowledge summary defines a standard set of READ codes for the diagnosis of dementia to be used by general practices and memory assessment services. Read more »
This illustrates care packages for people living with dementia across four care clusters in line with payment by results for mental health. Read more »
Compassion in Practice
Compassion in Practice sets out a vision to embed six values: care, compassion, courage, communication, competence and commitment, known as the Six C’s, throughout the NHS to improve care for patients. Read more »
Wide variations in the quality of end of life care across the country were revealed in findings of the VOICES survey recently published by the Office of National Statistics. Read more »
The national framework which sets out the principles and processes for determining eligibility for NHS continuing healthcare has been revised to reflect the new NHS framework and structures, effective from 1 April 2013. Read more »
Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework 2013-14
The Department of Health has published the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework 2013-14 to complement the NHS Outcomes Framework and the Public Health Outcomes Framework. Read more »
This document sets out how the 3 outcomes frameworks, Adult Social Care, the NHS and Public Health, work together to achieve the desired outcomes for the health and care system. Read more »
The technical detail of the Public Health Outcomes Framework has been refreshed in line with the recent publication of the NHS Outcomes Framework and the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework. Read more »
NHS Mandate
The NHS mandate between the Government and the NHS Commissioning Board sets out the ambitions for the health service for the next two years. Read more »
Practical guides for health and wellbeing boards
A series of learning resources have been launched to support the establishment of well-functioning health and wellbeing boards. Read more »
NHS South of England Dementia Challenge Fund 2012
Communities across the South of England are benefitting from an extra £9 million to enhance treatment, care and support for people living with dementia, their families and carers. Read more »
Delivering major improvements in dementia care and research by 2015: A report of progress
This report by the three Champion Groups leading the Prime Minister’s challenge on dementia provides an update on progress since the launch of the Challenge in March 2012. Read more »
This short guide summarises some of the need-to-know structural and operational features of local government and presents advice from GPs, NHS managers and local councillors on the important cultural stumbling blocks that often occur when working across the NHS-local government divide. Read more »
This resource developed by the Royal College of Nursing aims to support people working in hospitals to apply five principles for improving the quality of care and support for people with dementia and their carers. Read more »
This recently published resource is designed to make it easier for professionals involved in hospital discharge to support older patients in returning home safely after a hospital stay and reduce the risk of readmission to hospital. Read more »
Find me good care
Social Care Institute for Excellence has launched a new service called ‘Find Me Good Care’, to help people find good care in response to research that reveals many people are mystified by the care system. Read more »
Jeremy Hughes on innovating for an ageing society
Jeremy Hughes, Chief Executive at the Alzheimer’s Society, looks at how telecare innovations can make a positive difference for frail older people and the challenges facing the successful adoption of health technologies. Read more »
A team at the National End of Life Care Programme (NEoLCP) has developed an advance care planning toolkit to help care providers approach the planning process with confidence and knowledge. Read more »
This recently published toolkit identifies the main elements involved in the commissioning process, explains the commissioning cycle in practical terms and offers a four-stage approach across all sectors. Read more »
Informed About Dementia DVD
This series of 6 videos. developed by NHS Education for Scotland, aims to support staff and students improve their dementia awareness, knowledge and skills. Read more »
The Department of Health has published the fourth annual report on progress in delivering the End of Life Care Strategy. Read more »
The Right Care: creating dementia friendly hospitals
The Right Care is a call to action to transform the acute hospital experience for people with dementia and their carers. Read more »
NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly uses the STAR tool to support medications review and ensure appropriate prescribing of antipsychotic medications. Read more »
This handboo outlines ten practical steps to help healthcare professionals deal with an impending difficult conversation with a dementia patient as well as identifying the areas of conversation you will likely encounter. Read more »
World Alzheimer Report 2012: Overcoming the stigma of dementia
The report ‘Overcoming the stigma of dementia’, recently published by Alzheimer’s Disease International, shares results from a worldwide survey, revealing that nearly one in four people with dementia conceal their diagnosis, citing stigma as the main reason. Read more »
Lessons for commissioning dementia services in the South West
This report shares findings from a South West study into the factors that achieved real change and improvement for people living with dementia, their carers and families. Read more »
South West memory services peer review
This report shares the findings from the peer review of memory assessment services which took place in the South West at the start of 2012. It highlights for Clinical Commissioning Groups and their local partners innovation, learning, and opportunities for improvement across the diagnosis pathway. Read more »
Sheffield dementia information pack
This pack provides a guide to the medical, care, support and advice services in Sheffield and to living well for those worried about their worsening memory problems and those with a diagnosis of dementia. Read more »
This report presents findings of a Torbay pilot project and recommends that all carers of newly diagnosed patients with dementia should be offered an enhanced health check at the time of diagnosis. Read more »
Lostwithiel General Practice in Cornwall has introduced a nurse led memory assessment service to support detection, diagnosis, and post-diagnosis care and support. Read more »
Dementia-specialist nurses from the secondary care memory assessment service in Bristol are now based in primary care, supporting GPs as they regain skills in managing dementia. Read more »
Transforming the delivery of health and social care
This paper, published by The King’s Fund, explores how the current health and social care delivery system has failed to keep pace with the population’s needs and expectations. Read more »
The Right Prescription: resource pack
This resource pack will support pharmacists, who play a crucial role in medicines optimisation, to have critical conversations about the prescription of antipsychotics in dementia and reduce inappropriate prescribing. Read more »
Through the EVIDEM project, Professor Steve Iliffe and colleagues, reviewed studies of interventions to improve GPs performance in the early detection and management of dementia. Interventions proved more successful when tailored to the learning needs of the GPs and developed with them. Read more »
This study sought to explore needs of people with dementia and their informal carers in the last year of life and surrounding death. Aims: The main aim of this study was to explore experiences of this group identifying their underlying needs at this time. Read more »
The National dementia and antipsychotic prescribing audit aims to gather information from primary care to establish a national picture of prescribing antipsychotic medication in people with dementia. Read more »
Unlocking diagnosis: The key to improving the lives of people with dementia
This report published by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Dementia (APPG) explores the barriers to dementia diagnosis in the UK. It makes recommendations to improve diagnosis rates and provide better post diagnosis support for people with dementia. Read more »
Dr Adrian Treloar on palliative care at home
Dr Adrian Treloar explains how Greenwich and Bexley Advanced Dementia Services provide holistic and palliative care at home for people with advanced dementia. Read more »
This scheme, led by Stockport Clinical Commissioning Group, offers examples of partnership working between primary care, secondary care, social care and third sector organisations, to assist people with dementia and their carers/family in living healthily and well in the community. Read more »
Engagement with local black and minority ethnic groups in Gloucestershire has led to better understanding of the needs of people with memory problems, and living with dementia. Read more »
The NHS London quality outcomes tool for general practice provides bundles of outcome indicators for general practices to promote transparency, manage performance, and identify opportunities for improvement. Read more »
Severn Deanery has recruited five GP Dementia Fellows to work with local practices to develop understanding about, treatment and care for people living with dementia. Read more »
Resources about the method by which commissioners pay mental health care providers for each patient seen or treated, taking into account the complexity of the patient’s healthcare needs. Read more »
Dementia Care in Hospital: A compendium of positive practice
The compendium brings together a selection of some of the many positive developments and practices initiated to improve the quality of dementia care in hospitals across the South West of England. Read more »
Long-term health gains
This report, published by the NHS Conferederation’s Mental Health Network, presents evidence for investing in care that addresses both physical and psychological needs. Read more »
This tool developed by NHS London aims to obtain a baseline of current levels of GP prescribing of antipsychotics to people with dementia across London. Read more »
The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) rewards practices for the provision of ‘quality care’ and helps to standardise improvements in the delivery of clinical care. Practice participation in QOF is voluntary but most practices on General Medical Services (GMS) contracts, as well as many on Personal Medical Services (PMS) contracts, take part in QOF. It… Read more »
Our health provides provides general practice and locality-level data on dementia services and diagnosis rates. Read more »