This project aims to achieve the first step towards South Gloucestershire becoming a more dementia friendly community by delivering specific actions in the Cribbs Causeway area.

Local voluntary, commercial and statutory organisations to be invited to sign up to take specific actions to help local communities in the Cribbs Causeway area to become more welcoming to people with dementia and their carers.

There is a great deal of local support for focusing on four geographically compact but distinct communities, representative of the whole of South Gloucestershire:

• Cribbs Causeway – retail, leisure and employment centre serving a very large catchment area;
• Patchway – an established community with several generations living in close proximity, a health and social care ‘Priority Neighbourhood’;
• A village – a neighbouring rural community, such as Easter Compton;
• Charlton Hayes – new housing estate with a proposed older person’s ‘hotel, likely to attract people with fewer links in the local community.

A fantastic range of innovations to make a real difference to people living with dementia’s lives have already been identified including:

• More supportive response from sales assistants and other key people in the community, eg the 15 local Health Champions recently trained by Public Health, because they have had dementia awareness training;
• Encouraging developers to use dementia friendly building checklist of Stirling University and NHS Scotland in new housing and retail centre re-development;
• Working with the local media, parish councils, ‘safer and stronger’ groups and using the materials developed in the 1) Post Diagnosis Support and Information proposals to improve dementia awareness amongst the above communities;
• Developing a range of opportunities for local people to volunteer to ‘befriend’ and create other social opportunities for people living with dementia, from the local volunteer bureau and health and social care students at Filton college and local schools, reducing isolation and enabling people to ‘live well with dementia’.
• Working with existing community groups to ensure that they are welcoming to new people with dementia and their carers.

The launch of this Dementia Action Alliance will be a joint enterprise between the CCG and the Council. Its whole approach is to support local communities to do things themselves and will therefore benefit from the Council’s various initiatives with a similar focus, described elsewhere under the ‘Building Community Capacity’ banner.

The CCG and the Council are very aware that several other areas in the South West have already developed Dementia Action Alliances, notably Plymouth, Torbay and Hampshire. Our approach will also be supported by the regional work of the Alzheimers Society.

Groups and organisations already involved in discussions include the Alzheimers Society, Age UK, the Community Care and Housing Directorate of the Council, the Merlin Housing Society, a local GP practice and the Southern Brooks Community Partnership. Other partners could include the Cribbs management and developer, retail outlets, other employers, parish councils, other community groups, GP practices, the Police, Public Health, Filton College, local schools, the volunteer bureau and housing developers.

The money will be used to fund a part time project manager to launch the initiative and provide them with an office base. In the longer term the momentum will be maintained by the organisations and groups who sign up themselves. They will maintain a rolling programme of actions and report on progress to the Joint Dementia Strategy Board.

Objectives

• Provide information on the challenges facing people living with dementia
• Encourage these communities to be more understanding and supportive
• Sustain this initiative and replicate it elsewhere in South Gloucestershire

Anticipated outcomes

• Shop assistants and other people you meet are more understanding and supportive when you go shopping, socialise, use local facilities and seek employment .
• Local buildings are easier to find your way around (eg Cribbs retail centre).
• You and your family and friends have a better understanding of dementia and the benefits of early diagnosis, medical treatment and the other support available.
• More opportunities to socialise, get out and about and ‘live well with dementia’.
• Existing opportunities to pursue interests and socialise are more welcoming.
• More opportunities for volunteering for everybody, we can all contribute.