Dementia Partnerships
Focus on dementia at Musgrove Park Hospital
Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton has been selected to take part in a project to improve the hospital experience for patients with dementia. Read more »
What's new
NICE publishes dementia quality standard
This quality standard provides clinicians, managers and service users with a description of what a high-quality dementia service should look like. Read more »
Care homes newsletter, issue 4, June 2010
Details on the June issue of the care homes newsletter from the National Dementia Strategy Implementation Team. This issue focuses on raising awareness of dementia within care homes and how care homes are raising awareness in local communities. Read more »
Dementia Awareness Week 4-11 July 2010
The theme of Dementia Awareness Week this year, is Remember the person. Throughout the week, the Alzheimer’s Society is encouraging people to look beyond dementia and understand that everyone living with dementia is still an individual. Read more »
Late-onset dementia: early diagnosis and drug treatment
This video from SocialCareTV, managed by the Social Care Institute for Excellence, illustrates the positive effects of an early diagnosis of dementia and the crucial support role carers can play. Read more »
Living well with dementia bulletin, Issue 2, June 2010
This issue provides features on Partnership events, such as the Dementia Summit 2010 and the regional conference on improving dementia care in general hospitals. There are updates on regional work to raise awareness, improve dementia care in care homes and develop an informed and effective workforce for people with dementia. Read more »
Improving the administration of medicines in care homes
All of the Primary Care Trusts across the South West are making significant progress with the safety of local prescribing, dispensing, administration, and monitoring arrangements in the provision of medication to older people in care homes. Read more »
End of life care for people with dementia commissioning and benchmarking tool
The commissioning and benchmarking tool helps you to assess local service requirements using the indicative benchmark as a starting point. With knowledge of your local population and its demographic, you can amend the benchmark to better reflect your local circumstances. Read more »
Person centred support plan for people with dementia
The person centred support plan aims to enable and support the person living with dementia in a care home to be as self-reliant and in control as they can be. Read more »
Developing improved memory assessment services
The South West Dementia Partnership has agreed as a priority the development of improved memory assessment services to enable a year on year increase in the rates of diagnosis of dementia. Read more »
Dementia: An introductory guide for care home staff
The purpose of this introductory guide is to give care staff some basic information and to point people in the direction of further advice. Read more »
Innovation for healthcare reform: creating opportunities to explore, expand and excel
This paper offers new skills and tools based on the principles of creativity and innovation. Read more »
Dementia: A guide for care home managers and providers
This guide provides care home managers and providers with information about best practice based on work in the South West. Read more »
Involving people with dementia
The Alzheimer’s Society has recruited a project manager to ensure that users’ voices are heard and can be instrumental in shaping and influencing the delivery of services for people affected by dementia. Read more »
Improving care in care homes in the South West
This discussion paper aims to draw together a lot of evidence about care homes in the South West. It highlights how managers, staff, commissioners and Care Quality Commission inspectors can contribute to improving the quality of care in care homes. Read more »
End of life care for people with dementia commissioning guide
This commissioning guide provides support for the local implementation of NICE clinical guidelines through commissioning, and is a resource to help statutory and voluntary health and social care professionals in England to commission integrated end of life care (EOLC) services for people with dementia. Read more »
NICE dementia quality standard
This quality standard provides clinicians, managers and service users with a description of what a high-quality dementia service should look like. Read more »
Improving Dementia Care in General Hospitals
We have published a document which summarises the discussion from the delegate workshops at the South West regional conference on improving dementia care in general hospitals. Read more »
Care homes newsletter, issue 3, May 2010
Details on the May issue of the care homes newsletter from the National Dementia Strategy Implementation Team. This issue focuses on quality of care; what quality of care looks like and how we can achieve it. Read more »
Implementation progress: review of local action plans
We have produced a report designed to provide a helpful benchmark for local communities to assess the strength of their existing action plans in implementing the National Dementia Strategy. Read more »
Singing for the brain: Dementia Summit looks to the future
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. Read more »
The impact of dementia in learning disability care homes in the South West
This report presents the findings of a survey exploring whether learning disability care homes in the South West are faced with increasing numbers of people with dementia. Read more »
South West standards for dementia care in hospital
These standards have been developed in response to the many concerns expressed about poor quality care experienced by people with a dementia when they are in hospital. Read more »
Altogether NOW Collectively figuring out how to develop alternatives to just paid support
This paper, based on work by organisations in the North West, looks at how providers and commissioners can work together to develop individually designed services at a time of reducing resources. Read more »
End of life quality markers for dementia
Living well with dementia: A National Dementia Strategy (DH, 2009) includes an objective of improved end of life care for people with dementia. It suggests that to meet that objective ‘local work on end of life care needs to focus on the large numbers of people who will die with dementia’ and makes reference to… Read more »
On becoming an NHS chief executive: insights from those who are
A report summarising research which identified the key career-enabling factors and other pivotal experiences that current chief executives have encountered on their own personal career journeys. Read more »
Care homes newsletter, issue 2, April 2010
Details on the April issue of the care homes newsletter from the National Dementia Strategy Implementation Team. This issue focuses on quality of life for people with dementia living in a care home. Read more »
Prescribing guidelines: Acetyl Cholinesterase inhibitors
These prescribing guidelines developed by Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust support GPs on the use of Acetyl Cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs) for the treatment of Alzheimer’s dementia in accordance with NICE guidance. Read more »
Improving care in care homes in the South West
This discussion paper aims to draw together evidence about care homes in the South West and highlights how managers, staff and commissioners can contribute to improving the quality of care for people with dementia. Read more »
Healthy lifestyle reduces risk of dementia
According to researchers from the University of Edinburgh, having a healthy lifestyle mid-life is likely to help stave off dementia in later life. Read more »
Confident communities, brighter futures: A framework for mental well-being
The ‘Confident Communities, Brighter Futures’ report, published by the National Mental Health Development Unit, offers a systematic evidence base from which local authorities and the NHS can act to reduce inequalities and improve mental health in their areas. Read more »
Improving hospital care for patients with dementia
A new NHS Confederation report encourages hospitals to rethink the ways they provide care for people with dementia without large additional costs. Read more »
2010 national survey into attitudes towards mental illness
The national survey into attitudes towards mental illness has been published by SHIFT, the initiative to tackle stigma and discrimination surrounding mental health issues in England. Read more »
New dementia care management support tools
The Clinical Knowledge Summary service has recently launched care management support tools, which focus on Dementia. Read more »
Community Care launches Dementia Declaration campaign
Community Care wants all political parties to sign the declaration, which demands a full debate on the issue of dementia during the forthcoming general election. Read more »
Bournemouth and Poole provides integrated care to people with dementia
Kate Jones has recently authored an article in Nursing Times outlining how a nurse led project in Bournemouth and Poole is ensuring people with dementia receive joined up care. Read more »
Care Quality Commission publishes five-year strategy
The strategy sets out what the Care Quality Commission aims to achieve for people who use health care and social care over the next five years. Read more »
Launch of films by people with dementia
On 12th April Innovations in Dementia will be launching four films made by people with dementia. Read more »
Paths to personalisation
The Paths to personalisation guide has been produced by the National Mental Health Development Unit (NMHDU) to help all those involved understand how things will need to be done differently to make personalisation a reality for people with mental health needs. Read more »
Mental Health Liaison services supporting Bristol’s older people
Older people along with their families and carers in Bristol and South Gloucestershire are finding an additional form of mental health support available at Bristol hospitals. Read more »
Care homes newsletter, issue 1, March 2010
Details on the March issue of the care homes newsletter from the National Dementia Strategy Implementation Team. This issue focuses on progress in implementing the National Dementia Strategy in care homes. Read more »
Ministerial advisory group on dementia research
Following the 2009 summit on dementia research a new ministerial advisory group was formed to help improve the volume, quality and impact of dementia research. Read more »
Putting our heads together: what makes senior joint posts work?
This discussion paper looks at the factors that help and hinder success in a joint post and what local and national leaders can learn from this. Read more »
A misspent opportunity? Inquiry into the funding of the
National Dementia Strategy
This report published by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Dementia (APPG) examines initial progress made by Primary Care Trusts in England towards implementing the National Dementia Strategy for England (NDSE). Read more »
Dementia awareness campaign TV advert
Watch the TV advert being run through this week as part of the Dementia awareness campaign. Read more »
Five simple ways to help someone living with dementia
Dementia: the more we understand the more we can help. Read more »
GWAS leads the way on improving emergency care for dementia patients
Great Western Ambulance Service (GWAS) is working with the Department of Health (DH) to look at ways it – and other ambulance services – can provide better care for patients suffering from dementia. Read more »
Dementia awareness campaign
The national campaign for dementia awareness launches on 1 March 2010. Run in partnership with The Alzheimer’s Society, the campaign will address poor public understanding of dementia. Read more »
Quality Accounts
From April 2010, all providers of acute, mental health, learning disability and ambulance services will be required to produce a Quality Account. Read more »
Regional review of local action plans to implement the National Dementia Strategy
Each South West community was asked to submit a local action plan following an appraisal of their progress in the summer of 2009. This report is designed to provide a helpful benchmark for local communities to assess the strength of their existing action plans. Read more »