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?

• We are committed to ensuring that all staff have a good understanding of dementia, not only for our service users but also their families and carers, by providing training on a regular basis.
• We maintain an awareness of services offered in our area by inviting guest speakers to our monthly Team Briefs.
• We review support plans on a 12 weekly rota, ensuring that all information is up-to-date and relevant by sitting down with our service users and their families and carers in their own home.
• We support our partners, Tunstall Response, by ensuring that relevant information is recorded on the database so that they are able to deal with calls from community and dispersed alarms appropriately.
• We identify where additional support is needed and liaise with other agencies to ensure this is in place: ie. monitored smoke alarms, adaptations.
• We have created a sensory garden in all of our sheltered schemes and actively encourage all residents to participate in their management according to their individual ability.
• We are in the process of setting up a Dementia Champion’s Group. 2 staff will organise a bi-annual support group in each sheltered scheme for all residents and their families.

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

• The increasing number of service users with dementia and how we meet their needs.
• Ensuring that the skills we learn from training are transferred to the work place.
• Time management
• Understanding the impact of dementia is diverse and ensuring our approach is flexible.