All applicants and current care staff have completed eLearning in Dementia Awareness, as well as workshops in Dementia and Stress & Distress.  Additional training from the University of Tasmania has been completed by other team members.  Qualifications with the care team include, amongst others, Nursing, Social Work, Physiotherapy, Ophthalmology, Person Centred Support, Health Care Management, Mental Health, Health & Social Care.  Each of these have components focussed on Dementia.

Open Dementia and Stress & Distress workshops have been held monthly.  Invitations have and remain open to service users and families to attend any of the workshops.  This allows us to share and learn from each other.  If you have any access requirements, wish to join online or require support for a loved one to allow you to attend please let us know in advance.  

Information on local and national support groups is available on our Service User & Family website.

Continuous listing and sharing of dementia-friendly events, see recent posts: Dementia-Friendly Activities in March and Dementia-Friendly Activities in April

All service users have a person centred “About Me” section, and a comprehensive 20 point Dementia Action guide for families on PASS.  The guide is also published on the Service User & Family website.  All SU who agreed have a Herbert Protocol.

All new service user assessment and plans have been created in the past 3 months, with over 1200 old plans archived and 1000 new assessments created.  Over time we shall populate these plans with incidents and occurrences in a chronological order to allow a better understanding of your needs.  We continue to use predictive support modeling to assess current and future needs.

We have partnered with several organisations including, Scottish Care, Dementia Training partnership, Alzheimer’s Scotland and EHSCP to provide resources to staff, service users and families through our website.

Caroline emailed [email protected] to gather more information, ensuring that families and individuals living with dementia feel included and engaged. The goal is to cultivate a supportive family environment and encourage their active participation.

We created CookeryHQ.com as a way to engage in conversations about food, sharing this with 15,000 people monthly

Added Royal Reminiscence dementia-friendly events at Palace of Holyroodhouse to event listings, see Dementia-Friendly Activities in April

We shared Good Practise in Design with Service Users and Families on our website.  In addition, we provided Digital Clocks to orientate to time and place, and Photo Boards of staff as a reminder of peoples’ care team.

Whiteboards were introduced, and some of the service users are currently using them. This helps remind them of their daily activities, such as appointments, visits, and meals. It also assists the carers in engaging with the service users and discussing their daily activities.

We will share details of respite care services, including those of SCA on our website.  This will include how to access or request these services from EHSCP

We understand that moving from your own home can be confusing and distressing.  Caroline has been co-ordinating with Social Work in home respite for some families over the coming year.  We are able to provide overnight support for families who wish to take time away, whilst their next of kin remain in their own home.  Stephen has been in discussion with Edinburgh Health & Social Care Partnership (EHSCP) to offer this as a service to those who require it.

We share updates on local activities monthly in advance on our Service User & Family website.

Stephen has published monthly Dementia Friendly activities on a month by month basis on the website.  Caroline and Rufus continue to research these and we will continue to post them for you in the coming months.

See Dementia-Friendly Activities in April

We created and maintain a Service User & Family website which has a range of activities, information, contacts and resources related to Dementia.

Stephen and Rufus have collated relevant blogs, training materials and other resources on the website.  Links to these can be found at the bottom of the Focus Area.

We added a feedback section to our Staff website where comments from Service Users/Families are shared.  We seek opinions from Service Users/Families at service reviews, spot checks, staff observations and staff appraisals.  Additionally an online form is available on our website, or alternatively a feedback can be done via OpenPASS, email or phone at any time.

 This will be conducted at the end of the year.