This strategy outlines the standards of care for people living with dementia in Birmingham and Solihull. It is based on what people said want and should get following extensive consultation.

Download Birmingham and Solihull Dementia Strategy 2013-16

The strategy aims to challenge providers and commissioners of care for people with dementia, to identify how they can improve what they do and set plans to achieve better services.

The strategy estimates that the current total cost of dementia in terms of health and social care is £90m for Solihull and £300m for Birmingham, and that this will grow to £120m for Solihull and £350m for Birmingham by 2021. The majority of the spend is absorbed as:

• The cost of emergency admissions to acute hospitals
• Additional staffing in hospitals to ensure safety where people have dementia
• Much longer stays in hospital than people with similar conditions but no dementia
• Going into a care home when provision of services at home might have prevented it.

The strategy sets an ambition to put the right services in place in the community to prevent some of the very expensive episodes listed above.

Key requirements of the transformation include:

• Prevention and Health promotion
• Recognition and identification
• Assessment and diagnosis
• Living well with dementia
• Increasing care (including end-of-life care)