Progress and Achievements
Previous NHS Golden Jubilee Dementia Strategies have aligned goals with nationally defined standards.
Progress was in establishing a framework and structure to support people with dementia when attending the hospital. A key success was the notable achievements around staff education and training for dementia care through the Promoting Excellence Framework and numbers of staff completing Dementia Champions training.
We had identified a number of key objectives to be addressed from our last Dementia Strategy (2019-2022) and we worked towards implementation of these prior to work being paused during the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent capacity to deliver these. These were closely linked to the national priorities for Dementia.
- Embedding leadership and quality improvement knowledge.
- Staff education and training for dementia care
- Work as equal partners with families and carers
- Continue to minimise and respond appropriately to stress and distress
- Board-wide projects
- Promote an anti-discriminatory culture
The COVID-19 pandemic and vacant Lead Dementia Nurse role impacted on delivery of the previous Dementia Strategy. Despite these challenges we strived to achieve the set objectives including maintaining the core principles of delivering the best non-discriminatory care with carers involvement.
Whilst delivering substantial face to face education was challenging, core induction training for all new staff was maintained.
A high number of Health Care Support Workers were supported to complete the ‘Best Practice in Dementia Care’ course until the restrictions of the pandemic made this difficult to maintain. We plan to restart this training in 2024.
Care delivery was supported using:
- national recognised assessment tools and guidelines for managing delirium care, and
- local robust guidance on managing stress and distress.
Whilst challenging due to COVID-19 restrictions, the importance of recognising and facilitating support for patients and carers, including maintaining a person centred approach to visiting, was maximised
