Leeds Irish Health & Homes
We are a health and well-being organisation with many years experience of supporting people across a wide range of issues. Originally focussing on the needs of the Irish community our success in developing individual tailored support now also enables us to provide high quality services to the wider community too.
- Updated:
- 2 December 2019
- Location:
- Yorkshire and Humber
- Sectors:
- Health, Housing Sector, Voluntary Sector, Community organisations
- Local Alliances:
- Leeds Dementia Action Alliance
1. Action Plan
1. The National Dementia Declaration lists seven outcomes that the DAA 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?
We are members of the Leeds Dementia Partnership and the BME Dementia Forum. We are members of Irish Memory Loss Alliance (Cuimhne) and support this national campaign to address the needs of all Irish living in Britain who experience all forms of memory loss, inclusive of age–related forgetfulness and all forms of dementia. All staff have undertaken Person-Centred Dementia Awareness training with some completing Reminiscence Skills Therapy training. We work in partnership with other organisations in the city to help make the Irish, and wider community, dementia aware, and dementia friendly. We are seeking funding to enable us to develop new services to support those with dementia eg Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) amd MCST) sessions, Wellbeing Days, a Carer Group, an Advice Line, and a Memory Box Loan Service. We are delivering Advance Care Planning training to all frontline staff and will be offering sessions to the wider community. We are partnered with TIDE to deliver the 'My Home Matters' Workshops and with Westward Care and author Brian Daniels in a performance of 'Don't Leave Me Now'.
2. What are the challenges to delivering these outcomes from the perspective of your organisation?
We closed our Aran Service in June 2019. We were not reaching enough people with dementia and none from the Irish community. This is challenging for us because we know that the numbers are increasing so are looking for funding to develop services that attract Irish people with dementia and their Carers which will not only increase their sense of belonging, connectedness, but will encourage them to seek help early. We want to provide support for the entire journey that is dementia. Other challenges include the fact that though we are involved with the BME Dementia Forum we are not seen as part of the BME community. Without a solid piece of research we struggle to convince funders that we do have specific cultural needs.
Member website
www.lihh.org2. Actions
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To review our dementia services
We are undertaking a review of our dementia offering with a view to exploring innovative and creative ways of supporting people with dementia, their families and carers. This will involve gathering intelligence from other organisations who provide dementia services within and outside of the region, attending conferences and events to learn about creating dementia friendly services, and seeking funding for agreed pilot projects.
- Status:
- Initial Scoping
2019 - First Quarter Update
Set up a Strategy Review Group in October 2018 Met with NHS Leeds North CCG Integrated Commissioning and Transformation Manager, Dementia,on 9/11/18 Attended the Housing & Care 21- Rising to the Dementia Challenge- Conference on 21/11/18 Met with CCG Dementia Lead on Attending the Creating Dementia Friendly Conference in Manchester on 29/01/19
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We will work with other BME groups in Leeds to ensure that the needs of Irish and other BME people with dementia get access to culturally relevant support
Through membership of Leeds Dementia Strategy Board and the BME Dementia Forum we will raise awareness amongst providers, policy-makers and the public of the needs of Irish and other BME community members for the need for culturally apporpriate support
- Status:
- Being implemented
2017 - Third Quarter Update
The Dementia Services Manager attended the most recent BME Forum and is building relationships with the other members.
2016 - Third Quarter Update
We presented our report on Memory Loss and the needs of the Irish Community Leeds to the Dementia Strategy Board.
We hosted an event at the Leeds Irish Centre raising awareness about the importance of culture when delivering services to individuals with memory loss and dementia.