Supporting people
with dementia
The development of integrated services for older people with complex needs and long-term conditions, including dementia, is one of our key priorities.
Our vision is to improve the health and well-being of older people, no matter how complex their needs, so that they are supported to maintain their independence and live a fulfilling life.
Dementia care
Through support from the Welsh Government Integrated Care Fund, the RPB was able to support initiatives guided by the Cardiff and Vale Draft Dementia Strategy 2017-2027 that see health and social care services working together to support older people with dementia. So that our actions could make a clear difference at a local level, we engaged with representatives from Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, Cardiff Council, Vale Council, and the Alzheimer’s Society, along with a person living with dementia and a person with experience of caring for a person with dementia.
Find out about local support:
Dementia Friendly Communities
Dementia Friendly Communities’ is a programme developed by the Alzheimer’s Society which facilitates the creation of dementia friendly communities across the UK. The programme aims to engage organisations, local businesses, front-line staff and members of the public to share the responsibility for ensuring people with dementia feel understood, valued and able to contribute to their communities.
Helen Rouse – Director of O. Constantinou & Sons (Hair and Beauty Salon) in Cardiff pledged to become a dementia friendly business in July 2020 (*Ingrid Patterson – Dementia Friendly Communities Coordinator for Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan)
The Dementia Friendly team at Constantinou Hair & Beauty, Cardiff
We have been blown away by the support and education from Ingrid *💗 We are proud to now be a Dementia Friend and will continue to learn and develop our understanding of Dementia. If you know any local businesses who would benefit from this training, we can highly recommend it.
In collaboration with Marie Curie volunteers, the RPB has facilitated dementia friends training across Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan with a view to becoming a Dementia Friendly Region. There are now over 7,000 dementia friends. In early 2020 a Dementia Friendly business pilot was launched. Independent hair and beauty salon O Constantinou & Sons in Cardiff were the first to successfully pledge to become a Dementia Friendly business.
Dementia Learning & Development Team
It is recognised that patients living with cognitive impairment prefer coordinated and streamlined care being delivered ‘closer to home’. It is also important that patients living with dementia have seamless transitions between services and that they may benefit from access to a named contact who can help to navigate their ‘journey’ living with dementia to ensure that the right person is involved at the right time and in the right place.
Whoever you are you, if you want to understand more about living with dementia, caring for someone with dementia or becoming a dementia friend, please contact the Dementia Learning and Development Team at [email protected]
Partnership working to Support those living with dementia
Funding was used for a Positive Approaches to Care (PAC) certified, Dementia Care training team to train colleagues in primary care who review patients in their local area to achieve the competencies outlined within the Good Work Framework for Wales. This has resulted in improved rates of dementia diagnosis in Cardiff and the Vale. but more than that, has provided a safer environment, closer to home that many vulnerable patients will benefit from when being diagnosed with a life-changing condition. The feedback from patients reviewed in the GP clinics has been resoundingly positive.
In addition, funding has also enabled the Dementia Learning and Development Team in Cardiff to develop the role of the memory link worker. These individuals have come from various backgrounds in health and social care. They work within different localities within Cardiff and the Vale as per GP practice, helping them to develop close working relationships with GP’s, local services and allied health care professionals. The memory link workers have been integral to our operations as a memory team over the past few years in acting as a link or connector for patients to help them navigate the healthcare system and ensure patients are referred to the right person at the right time to address their needs.
THANKS TO FUNDING PROVIDED BY WELSH GOVERNMENT A COLLABORATION LED DR CHERRY SHUTE, LOCUM CONSULTANT GERIATRICIAN WITHIN THE MEMORY TEAM AT LLANDOUGH HOSPITAL AND DR KEZIAH MAIZEY A GP WITH A SPECIALIST INTEREST IN MEMORY BASED AT LLANDAFF NORTH MEDICAL CENTRE TO DEVELOP AND DELIVER A UNIQUE AND PIONEERING SYSTEM TO IMPROVE THE EXPERIENCES OF THOSE LIVING WITH DEMENTIA AND THEIR LOVED ONES.
How the funding was used:
- Training eight General Practitioners to develop a specialist interest in memory
- Building capacity in local clinics to review circa 700 patients per annum
- Recruiting eight memory link workers, to work closely between primary and secondary care services making an average 5400 contacts with patients a year. Reducing burden on already stretched primary care services and the risk of crisis admissions
- 110 staff received skills training Funding occupational, speech and language therapists and dieticians with cognition interest within the Community Resource Team in Cardiff and the Vale Community Resource Service.
- Funding occupational, speech and language therapists and dieticians with cognition interest within the Community Resource Team in Cardiff and the Vale Community Resource Service.
GP comment,
“I constantly receive positive verbal feedback from patients and their carers about the benefits of having memory clinics in GP practices. They find it less intimidating, more accessible for those with disabilities”.
“One of the best training sessions I have attended, it helped me think about what the person living with dementia is experiencing”.
In parallel, the dementia care mapping (DCM) activity of the team provides an evidenced-based approach to collecting information on the lived experience of dementia. The information is then shared with others to encourage critical reflection on practice, and to develop and improve person centred care across the workforce.
Our Priorities
DECHRAU’N DDA
STARTING WELL
We want every child in Cardiff and Vale to have the opportunity to thrive. Our work focuses on children in vulnerable situations and the services that support them.
HENEIDDIO’N DDA
AGEING WELL
We know how hard it can be to find help when people need it the most. We want to make sure there is community support to help people stay as healthy as possible so they can carry on doing the things that matter most to them.
BYW’N DDA
LIVING WELL
As a Partnership we have worked together with people with a learning disability, their families, carers and the third and independent sector to produce a clear direction for the planning and delivery of adult learning disability services across the region over the next five years.
Case Studies
Alison Law
Improvement and Development Manager, Joint Commissioning
- Project management across the partnership to enable the alignment and joint commissioning of services, which includes shaping the market, regional commissioning strategies, contracting and quality assurance.
- Programme manager for ICF Capital fund