The Nursing Times shortlist dementia ward for its palliative care
One of Cornwall’s two specialist dementia care wards has been shortlisted from over 500 entries for a top national award from the Nursing Times. Read more »
What's new
Two local units pilot a new Enabling Environment Award
Two Units from Bodmin Hospital have been chosen by the Royal College of Psychiatrists to pilot the new Enabling Environment Award. Read more »
Effective leadership development interventions: a position statement
This Health Foundation report reveals the interventions that work in creating leadership knowledge, behaviours, skills, competences, or ‘habits of mind’, relating to quality improvement. Read more »
Day unit for older people with dementia opens at Dorset County Hospital
The unit, the first of its kind in a South West Acute Hospital Trust, will offer a supportive environment for patients at risk of dementia as they receive medical treatment for other health conditions. Read more »
Contracting for personalised outcomes: learning from emerging practice
Contracting for personalised outcomes draws on learning from six local authorities who have begun to reshape their contracts, processes, range of budget holding options and relationships with the provider market to ensure that personalised services are available for everyone with care and support needs. Read more »
Living Well With Dementia: A National Dementia Strategy Implementation Plan
The National Dementia Strategy Implementation Plan describes the implementation task, arrangements for national and regional support, and the programmes that have been put in place to support delivery of Living well with dementia: a National Dementia Strategy. Read more »
Good practice in relation to working with older people experiencing dementia
This study was commissioned in order to identify and promote good practice in relation to working with older people experiencing dementia. Read more »
Dementia demonstrator sites in the South West region
This briefing provides summary information about the four dementia demonstrator sites in the South West region. Read more »
NHS Mutual: engaging staff and aligning incentives to achieve higher levels of performance
This report looks at the factors that drive staff engagement in the health service, and examines various models of employee ownership in use both within and outside the NHS. Read more »
Joint commissioning framework for dementia
The National Dementia Strategy joint commissioning framework provides best practice guidance for commissioning dementia services. Read more »
Housing and Dementia – three new resources
The Housing Learning and Improvement Network, part of the Department of Health’s Care Networks, has produced three resources on the topic of housing and dementia. Read more »
Older people living in the community – nutritional needs, barriers and interventions: a literature review
This literature review focuses on the nutritional needs of older adults living in the community, the barriers to them meeting their nutritional needs and interventions which may be successful in improving nutritional intake. Read more »
Joint commissioning framework for dementia
This framework provides best practice guidance for commissioners in the NHS and local authorities to support implementation of the National Dementia Strategy, ‘Living well with dementia’. Read more »
Prepared to care – Challenging the dementia skills gap
This report published by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Dementia (APPG) explores the scale of the challenge in training the caring professions in dementia, and how it may be met. Read more »
Extra care housing and people with dementia: A scoping review of the literature 1998-2008
This literature review identifies recent published and grey literature relating to people with dementia living in extra care housing. Read more »
Beyond practice-based commissioning: the local clinical partnership
This report outlines how groups of clinicians based in hospitals and in the community could come together to form new organisations that take on responsibility for the health outcomes of their local communities. Read more »
Housing and dementia
Information on all aspects of meeting the needs of people with dementia and their carers in housing settings. Read more »
New Horizons – a new vision for mental health and wellbeing
A new strategy that will promote good mental health and well-being, whilst improving services for people who have mental health problems. Read more »
National dementia strategy demonstrator site programme
The National Dementia Strategy requires an improved evidence base about the effectiveness of two service models proposed. Read more »
Living well with dementia: a National Dementia Strategy
The aim of the Strategy is to ensure that significant improvements are made to dementia services across three key areas: improved awareness, earlier diagnosis and intervention, and a higher quality of care. Read more »
Mental Health Today special issue on dementia
The April issue focusses on Dementia, including an article in which Phil Hope talks about the government’s new dementia strategy. Read more »
South West integrated care pilots to focus on dementia
Two of the integrated care pilots are from the South West region and will focus on dementia. Read more »
King's Fund programme to focus on dementia care environments
The King’s Fund Enhancing the Healing Environment (EHE) programme will this year focus on dementia care environments. Read more »
Commissioning for personalisation: a framework for local authority commissioners
This framework explores refocuses existing and emerging perspectives on commissioning for health and wellbeing through the lens of personalisation. Read more »
Department of Health launches Carers Direct
The Carers Direct information service is designed to provide a single and comprehensive online resource to help carers manage their lives around caring. Read more »
Talking mats
Talking Mats is an established communication tool, which uses a mat with symbols attached as the basis for communication. Read more »
In their own words
These four films follow the experiences of people with different stages of Alzheimer’s. The first three films follow the experiences of Bill Wilson, Daryl Munday and Stan Lintern. In part four Kanta and Prabhakant Patel talk about their mother, Chanchalben Patel who sadly died in 2004. Read more »
Reforming leadership development … again
This paper asserts that debates about improving management and leadership in the NHS are not new and continuous reform suggests that previous attempts may not have tackled the right problem. Read more »
Living well with dementia: a National Dementia Strategy
This landmark document sets out initiatives to transform services and make the lives of people with dementia, their carers and families better and more fulfilled. Read more »
MPs launch inquiry into dementia workforce
MPs and Peers have begun a six month investigation into the dementia care workforce. Read more »
Inspiring leaders: leadership for quality
This guidance provides a best practice framework for the development of leaders across healthcare. Read more »
The design of housing for people with dementia
This paper illustrates how the principles of designing for dementia have been successfully applied to extra care housing. Read more »
A better return: setting the foundations for intelligent commissioning to achieve value for money
This report describes how the Third Sector could evidence its wider impact on public services and their delivery. Read more »
Access of BME staff to senior positions in the NHS
This report explores the organisational barriers to black and minority ethnic (BME) staff rising to positions of authority and influence in the NHS in order to inform future developments. Read more »
Transforming community services: enabling new patterns of provision
This guidance is intended to help providers of community services to move their relationship with their commissioners to a purely contractual one, consider what type(s) of organisations would best meet the future needs of patients and local communities, and how change can be managed to support the transformation of services to patients. Read more »
Do you know someone who provides oustanding dignity in care for people with dementia?
Nominate them for the People’s Award for Dignity in Care. Read more »
Systematic reviews of the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of interventions that promote mental well-being in later life
This review of 21 databases and 11 websites sought evidence, published between January 1993 and February 2007, of the effectiveness or cost-effectiveness of interventions to promote mental well-being in later life. Read more »
Teams without walls: the value of medical innovation and leadership
Teams without walls bring together healthcare professionals from primary and secondary care to work across traditional health boundaries to deliver care that puts the patient first. The working party, made up of representatives from the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, suggest… Read more »
See me, not just the dementia: understanding people's experiences of living in a care home
This report looks at the experiences of people with dementia living in care homes in England, with a particular focus on whether their care offers dignity and respect. Read more »
Worried About Your Memory campaign
An Alzheimer’s Society led campaign to support the early diagnosis and treatment of dementia. Read more »
Remembering Yesterday, Caring Today: Reminiscence in Dementia Care – A Guide to Good Practice
The book explores how reminiscence can contribute to person-centred dementia care and contains detailed descriptions of activities that can be used in a variety of settings. Read more »
Always a last resort: Inquiry into the prescription of antipsychotic drugs to people with dementia living in care homes
This report published by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Dementia (APPG) examines the problem of the over prescription of antipsychotic drugs to people with dementia living in care homes and proposes workables solutions. Read more »
Strengthening the involvement of people with dementia toolkit
This toolkit augments the section ‘Involving service users and their carers’ in ‘Everybody’s Business – a service development guide’. Read more »
Developing forums for people with dementia
This report provides an evaluation of the Alzheimer’s Society project developing forums for people with dementia by the Dementia Services Development Centre for Wales. Read more »
The challenges of leadership in the NHS
This briefing paper is the result of a series of interviews with a cross-section of senior managers about what they think about the state of NHS leadership and management. Read more »
Improving services and support for people with dementia
This report published by the National Audit Office presents findings from a study into the health and social care services available for people with dementia and their unpaid carers in England and whether they are providing effective and good quality support; and the scope for better use of resources against a background of rising demand. Read more »
How to achieve effective clinical engagement and leadership when working across organisational boundaries
This briefing paper identifies the characteristics and impact of high quality clinical engagement, leadership and team effectiveness across organisational boundaries. Read more »
Dementia UK (2007)
This report into the prevalence and cost of dementia shows that as the UK’s population ages the number of people with dementia will grow substantially. It also shows that dementia costs the UK £17 billion a year. Read more »
Listen to Us: Involving people with dementia in planning and developing services
This guide was produced by Dementia North as part of a Department of Health funded development project to explore how people with dementia can be involved in service planning and development. Read more »