Making the difference
Jeremy Hughes, Chief Executive,
Alzheimer’s Society
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alzheimers.org.uk
What the numbers say about
dementia care
• Up to a quarter of hospital beds occupied by
someone with dementia (Counting the cost, 2009)
• People with a diagnosis of dementia have:
•20% higher emergency readmission rates
•30% higher avoidable admission rates
•27% longer length of stay
•36% higher death rate than patients without
dementia (CQC State of care 2012/13)
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alzheimers.org.uk
Human cost of poor care
“When we came to visit he had no bed and was lying on a
mattress on the floor wearing nothing but an incontinence pad
and an unbuttoned pyjama top. The door to the room was wide
open and he was in full view of other patients and their visitors.”
“One staff nurse told us that “He shouldn’t be in here” and they
were not trained to look after people with his illness.”
“She was confused with a happy disposition when admitted, but
became unhappy, aggressive and very demented by the time of
her discharge.”
Quotes from Counting the cost, 2009
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alzheimers.org.uk
Benefits of an educated workforce
• Ensuring staff have understanding of dementia
has benefits for services and users, including:
•Helping ensure staff know how to assist people
with dementia with eating and drinking, reducing
risks of dehydration and malnutrition
•Better management of behaviours which
challenge, reducing need for restraint or use of
antipsychotic drugs
•Improved communication with service users
and their carers.
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alzheimers.org.uk
Working together
• Alzheimer’s Society is working closely with
Health Education England to support better
dementia training across the NHS.
• The Society is inputting into proposals for rollout
of tier one dementia training and advising on
plans for tier two (intermediate) and three
(advanced).
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alzheimers.org.uk
Meeting complex needs
• Alzheimer’s Society is an expert in dementia care
and we provide a wide number of training
courses.
• One of our key and popular courses is Meeting
Complex needs. This course seeks to address
the more challenging aspects of caring for people
with dementia, providing organisations with the
opportunity to tailor a programme to suit needs.
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alzheimers.org.uk
Meeting complex needs
• This course has seven modules, covering the
more complex elements of dementia care:
•Dementia awareness revisited
•Communication with people with dementia
•Behaviours that challenge
•Supporting relationships in dementia care
•Activities in dementia care
•The later stages of dementia
•End of life care for people with dementia.
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alzheimers.org.uk
What our customers said about
this course:
“The course made me realise I need to give more time to
residents and try and understand why they are upset.”
“Fantastic trainer. Learned a lot, enjoyed it a lot!”
“It was taken from a different angle from other courses which I
thought was very good and easy to follow.”
“One of the best training I had ever. Very happy to attend and
be here. Tutor had a great knowledge and understanding of the
topic. I hope to come again, such quality training.”
“Great information, great teacher and very in-depth”.
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alzheimers.org.uk
FITS programme
• Alzheimer’s Society developed an evidence-based
training course for care home staff: FITS
(Focussed Intervention Training and Support).
• FITS was developed to reduce prescriptions of
antipsychotic drugs in homes. A study evaluating
FITS in nine homes found it reduced prescriptions
by almost 50% compared to usual care, without
making behavioural symptoms worse.
• FITS is now being rolled out in 150 care homes
across the UK.
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alzheimers.org.uk
Thank you
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alzheimers.org.uk