The Latest Technology That’s Driving Quality of Life in Dementia Care
With dementia care in residential care settings becoming increasingly important as diagnoses rise, Person Centred Software has launched a new ‘Who I Am’ feature as part of its electronic evidence of care and care planning system, Mobile Care Monitoring. The feature enables staff to provide a more responsive and personalised quality of dementia care and improve residents’ quality of life. The new feature enables care homes to share vital information about residents’ routines, life story and wishes from the care plan with carers via the mobile application. These personalised routines are vital when caring for those with dementia as it helps them to maintain their daily functions and minimise their anxiety. Benefits of the new feature are already being realised. The manager at a care home in Sussex reports that the ‘Who I Am’ feature helped a carer to know how to support a resident when they were anxious and upset; the carer saw on ‘Who I Am’ that reading a prayer would soothe them. Similarly, a care home in North Somerset said that when a resident went to hospital, staff were able to provide personalised care and support. A hospital nurse got in contact with the care home to say that it was the best information she had ever seen Jonathan Papworth, co-founder and director of Person Centred Software, says, “It became apparent to us that whilst administration software helps care providers’ efficiency, it doesn’t actually help those delivering care. Social care really only exists because of these people, so we decided to focus on improving the lives of the care staff users. With the new capability of ‘Who I Am’ at their fingertips, carers have all the information they need to further help and support their residents.” ‘Who I Am’ is modelled on Alzheimer’s Society’s ‘This is Me’ tool and other one-page profiles that are widely used in social care to improve the quality of information and ease of information sharing. Not only is information available on carers’ devices, but the hospital pack provided within Mobile Care Monitoring automatically collates the information from residents’ ‘Who I Am’ profiles to ensure staff fully understand residents at every stage of their health and social care journey. Person Centred Software’s ‘Who I Am’ software addition is electronic, so staff can access up-to-date information securely whenever they need it, even when offline. This instant access is particularly important for new and agency staff and supports NICE best practice guidelines on dementia care. In 2018, NICE updated their dementia guidelines for the first time in 10 years, “With diagnoses on the rise, and 1 million due to have dementia by 2021, all health and social care professionals must be properly equipped to support people with dementia at every stage.” With the addition of ‘Who I Am’, Mobile Care Monitoring further helps care providers comply with CQC’s Key Lines of Enquiry (KLOEs) to improve quality of life for the 69% of residents living with dementia in UK care homes. Notably the KLOEs C1.4 and R1.2, which ask, “Do staff know and respect the people they are caring for and supporting, including their preferences, personal histories, backgrounds and potential?” and “How does the service make sure that a person’s care plan fully reflects their physical, mental, emotional and social needs…?”. ‘Who I Am’ creates a holistic resident profile that gives staff immediate insight into how best to support residents. Read more here about dementia care technology
Pioneering Dementia Advice Centre launched in Newcastle
In a bid to ensure effective, coordinated, community-based support for people who have been diagnosed with dementia, a pioneering dementia advice centre has opened in Newcastle. Designed to provide support and information services for people living with dementia, their families, friends and carers, the Centre, which is the first of its kind on Tyneside, is the result of a campaign led by North East specialist dementia charity, Dementia Matters. The Brunswick Village-based specialist day and residential care service provider has partnered with fellow North East charity, Newcastle Carers and sourced funding from The Ballinger Charitable Trust and the Lloyds Bank Foundation, to get the project up and running with additional support from local authorities and the NHS. Dr Fraser Quin, chief executive at Dementia Matters, said: “One of the issues raised regularly by people with dementia and their families is that there is no effective, co-ordinated support available to them post-diagnosis. As a result, they either fail to access the advice and support that they really need, or they feel like they are passed between various different support groups, where they need to repeatedly explain their story. “Mirroring the format of a dementia hub which was established in Stockton-on-Tees in 2015, Dementia Advice Centre Newcastle is the first Centre of its kind on Tyneside, providing advice and support to people living with dementia, their carers and families. “We hope that the service will be of great benefit to people and that its success will help to shape the future of dementia care across the region for years to come.” The new Centre, which has created three new full and part-time jobs, comprises a dedicated reception area, a hot-desk area for ‘drop-in’ advisers, an informal discussion area as well as confidential consultation rooms. Based at the Outer West Community Service Centre, Dementia Advice Centre Newcastle is open Monday to Friday for people to access a range of dementia specific services, from information about day care and respite services, to specialist clinical assistance from the dedicated on-site Admiral Nurse. “Using data gathered by our charity partner, Newcastle Carers, we established that services which benefitted from good public transport access, free parking and an easily accessible location tend to be used by more people, so we have selected the premises for Dementia Advice Centre Newcastle very carefully,” Dr Quin said. “The Outer West Community Service Centre is ideally located to enable us to help more people affected by dementia to gain access to the help and support they need to improve their quality of living. Newcastle City Council have been extremely supportive in helping us identify and secure these premises.” As the two core partners in the venture, Dementia Matters and Newcastle Carers will provide complementary services, with Dementia Matters’ team of specialists providing support for people with a dementia diagnosis and their families, while Newcastle Carers focus primarily on providing dedicated information, advice and support to carers around their role, entitlements and keeping themselves well. “Caring can take quite a toll on people’s own health and wellbeing, so helping carers to get the balance right between looking after someone else and looking after themselves is really important, helping families to keep a good quality of life,” said Katie Dodd, chief executive officer at Newcastle Carers. “Newcastle Carers will have a specialist carer information and advice worker on site to provide both practical and emotional advice and support to carers of all ages on topics such as general health, their caring role, managing finances, making time for themselves, housing and talking through how they feel.” “It is our mission to make the Newcastle Dementia Advice Centre an exemplar of excellence in dementia services,” Dr Quin added. “Once the concept of a coordinated support and advice service has been embedded, we hope that its legacy will be secured through additional funding so we can extend these services to reach even more people whose lives have been impacted in one way or another by dementia.” Cabinet member for health and social care, Councillor Karen Kilgour said: “The Dementia Advice Centre is an exciting development and will play a key role in achieving our ambition to make Newcastle a great place to live well with Dementia.” Councillor David Down, Lord Mayor of Newcastle upon Tyne, added: “I can echo everything that Councillor Kilgour has said, this centre is a much-needed resource in Newcastle, and I am sure it will be both welcomed and well used. To find out more about the Dementia Advice Centre, visit www.dementiamatters.net.
