Hextol Foundation
We are a charity which provides working opportunities to people with learning disabilities and/or mental health needs. We do this by operating a suite of businesses: a vegetarian café (The Hextol Tans); gardening teams; handyperson service; warehouse; catering business; and a post and pack operation.

- Updated:
- 13 March 2019
- Location:
- North East
- Sectors:
- Charity, Health, Hospitality, Retail, Voluntary, Voluntary Sector
- Local Alliances:
- Tynedale 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 hope to use our cafe to provide a place people with dementia can go to feel safe, secure and welcome.
In addition, our charitable objective is to improve the lives of those with learning disabilities and mental health needs, and would be open to providing the opportunity for appropriate people with dementia to work alongside our beneficiaries in our various service areas (ie cafe, gardening, warehouse, catering).
In these ways we would seek to make those experiencing dementia feel more valued and respected and also look to change the perception of members of the public with whom they came into contact.
2. What are the challenges to delivering these outcomes from the perspective of your organisation?
We would need to increase our understanding of dementia and ensure our staff were appropriately trained.
We would also need to develop a risk assessment and safeguarding model to ensure the sfatey of our exisiting beneficiaries as well as any who join us as a result of this project.
Also we will need to carry out a site survey to ensure our physical environments are conducive to a rewarding experince for those with dementia.
Member website
www.hextol.org.uk2. Actions
-
Improve our understanding of dementia
We will arrange Dementia Friends awareness session for all staff and volunteer supervisors across our organisation- Status:
- Planning
-
Environmental changes
We will use the DAA physical environments checklist to asess our public premises and to make any simple adjustments that are needed to make the premises more weloming and appropriate for those with dementia.
We will also engage with our local DAA group to advertise time when our cafe is quieter and therefore more comfortablefor those with dementia. And we will seek to offer our premises as a venue for our local DAA group to meet, either formally or informally.
- Status:
- Planning
-
Working opportunities
As a charity we provide working opportunities to those with mental health problems and learning disabilities. We will explore the possiblitiy of offering working oppotunities to people with dementia, especially those with early onset, to help them to continue to feel valued and relevant and to promote self esteem and self confidence.
- Status:
- Planning