Resources
Published: 29 March 2011
Check out these important resources for nurses looking after older people.
A Commissioning pack for dementia – coming soon!
This is one of only three commissioning packs being developed this year by the Department of Health (England), the other two being for cardiac rehabilitation and COPD.
The aim of the packs is to provide straightforward, practical guidance for commissioners on the area in question. The dementia pack will include:
• the case for change
• the evidence base
• specifications for particular services
• costings
• standard templates for the stages of procurement
• information for the public, people with dementia and carers.
It will cover four domains:
• early diagnosis and interventions
• better personal community support
• better care in hospitals
• better care in residential care homes.
The pack is aimed at both NHS and social care commissioners, and emphasises the need for joint commissioning across the whole system. The first two domains are planned for publication during the spring of 2011 with the remaining two to follow as resources allow. It will be developed with the needs of GP commissioning consortia in mind, but will also serve NHS commissioners during the transitional period.
An expert team at the DH is leading on this work, supported by a reference group of key organisations and individuals, including people with dementia and carers, to help shape the work and provide feedback as the pack develops.
Rachel Thompson, Dementia Project Lead, is representing the RCN on this work
NICE Commissioning guide for end-of-life care in dementia
This resource from the National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence provides support for the local implementation of NICE clinical guidelines through commissioning, and is designed to help statutory and voluntary health and social care professionals in England commission integrated end-of-life care (EOLC) services for people with dementia.
The guide targets health and social care professionals responsible for commissioning dementia services and/or EOLC services. However, it is also recommended that links are set up with commissioners who lead on a range of other conditions that often present in people with dementia, such as learning disabilities and co-morbidities. These include cancer, coronary heart disease, respiratory disease and other long-term conditions.
It should be read together with:
• CG42 Dementia: A NICE-SCIE Guideline on supporting people with dementia and their carers in health and social care
• Living well with dementia: A National Dementia Strategy
• End-of-Life Care Strategy (Department of Health)
Making the case for commissioning EOLC for people with dementia, the new guide:
• specifies service requirements
• helps you determine local service levels
• helps you ensure corporate and quality assurance.
SCIE Research briefing 35: Black and minority ethnic people with dementia and their access to support and services
This new report (published March 2011) by Jo Moriarty, Nadira Sharif and Julie Robinson discusses the barriers currently faced by BME people in accessing dementia care services and some of the ways in which services can become better at responding to the needs of BME people in their locality.
Key messages:
• An increase in the number of older BME people in the UK is likely to lead to an increased need for dementia services.
• Lower levels of awareness about dementia and the existence of stigma within BME communities help explain why these people are currently under-represented in dementia services.
• However, staff can adopt several approaches to improving the uptake of services, such as developing different information resources and appointing workers with responsibility for outreach.
• Staff working in dementia services would like more training on how to give culturally acceptable care and support to BME people with dementia.
• Carers of BME people with dementia may feel reluctant to ask for help, although support in the form of carers’ groups and respite services may be appreciated. Different communities may have differing views about whether they wish these services to be culturally specific or mixed.
• The current UK evidence base on supporting BME people with dementia and their carers is very limited and reliant upon a small number of local studies.
What your diagnosis means for you : This new booklet on diagnosis is the latest in the Living with Dementia series from the Alzheimer’s Society