1. The National Dementia Declaration lists a number of outcomes that we are seeking to achieve for people with dementia and their carers. How would you describe your organisation’s role in delivering better outcomes for people with dementia and their carers? 

The Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust is the major provider of acute and specialist care to the population of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. For the last two years the Trust has been working hard to deliver the ‘South West Dementia Care in General Hospital Standards’: Eight fundamental standards of care that focus on providing the very best care for people with dementia and their carers in acute hospital services http://www.dementiapartnerships.org.uk/hospital/. 

Progress across all eight standards has been measurable and over 2013 we intend to reach even further in raising awareness, embedding key standards of care that everyone with dementia should receive, improving our care environments, maximising the contribution volunteers make, collaborating and working with others towards a more seamless service, focus on targeted care improvements, utilising educational opportunity for workforce knowledge and skill development, and continue to listen and respond to service user and carer feedback. 

2. What are the challenges to delivering these outcomes from the perspective of your organisation? 

The Trust plans to build on the growing national attention and public awareness of the impact of dementia on the individual and their families to promote the work being undertaken to improve care standards (in line with the South West Dementia Care Standards).The Trust is ready to meet the challenges to delivering these outcomes, these range from: changes to commissioning and service provision to the challenge of meeting unscheduled care capacity; to simple awareness raising with clinical teams on the impact of dementia with specialist staff groups who feel they have little contact with the impact of dementia.