The SPACE principles & Dementia: Commitment to the care of people with dementia in general hospitals
Five principles structure the RCN’s dementia care commitment. These five principles are known as the SPACE principles.
The principles are designed to ensure the appropriate delivery of dementia care. You can learn more about the principles and get best practice examples and links to recommended resources in the RCN resource Dementia: Commitment to the care of people with dementia in hospital settings
The Triangle of Care
The Triangle of Care for Dementia was developed in partnership with the Royal College of Nursing and in consultation with carers, people with dementia and professionals. It is based on the original Triangle of Care and is aimed at acute care hospitals. Available as a guide on the Carers UK website, it is made up of six standards, which you can use to ensure that carers are included and involved in the care of any of your patients with dementia, particularly in hospital settings. It is also relevant to all services that provide care for people with dementia. See: The Triangle of Care. Carers Included: A Guide to Best Practice for Dementia
To reflect the Scottish context, the Triangle of Care has been adapted to suit the Scottish legislation, initiatives and policies around dementia. This Scottish version has been a collaborative effort between Carers Trust Scotland, Royal College of Nursing Scotland, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, University of Stirling Dementia Services Research and Dementia Carers Voices. See: The Triangle of Care – carers included: A guide to best practice for dementia care in Scotland.
Further resources
Creating dementia friendly GP surgeries – iSPACE. iSPACE is a number of actions designed to improve the patient experience through delivery of a set of improvements in care planning, communications and awareness of dementia for staff in primary care settings. The AHSN has funded a project to make GP surgeries dementia friendly. This project has shown good outcomes for patients and is now being spread across Wessex. See: iSPACE - making GP surgeries dementia friendly.
Dementia Evidence Toolkit. The Dementia Evidence Toolkit is for commissioners, care providers, people working in health and social care and people with dementia and their families. It has two resources: a searchable database with information on over 1433 research studies on interventions for people living with dementia and their carers and summaries of the research findings for some of the main care and treatment interventions.
Health Education England (HEE): Dementia awareness. HEE has developed a number of resources to raise awareness of dementia and improve education and training. These include an online course e-Dementia: Introduction to Dementia and the Dementia Core Skills Education and Training Framework.
Join Dementia Research. The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in partnership with Alzheimer Scotland, Alzheimer's Research UK and Alzheimer's Society have developed Join Dementia Research, a service which allows people to register their interest in participating in dementia research and be matched to suitable studies. Free materials are available to encourage more people with dementia to sign up.
Making a difference in dementia, nursing vision and strategy: refreshed edition. This refreshed strategy reinforces the fundamental role nurses play in providing care and support to people, so they can live well with dementia. It builds on the 'Making a Difference in Dementia, Nursing Vision and Strategy', published in March 2013, which set out the Department of Health's vision of how nurses could maximise their unique contribution to high quality compassionate care and support for people with dementia and their carers/families. See: Making a difference in dementia, nursing vision and strategy: refreshed edition.
NHS England (2018) My future wishes: Advance Care Planning (ACP) for people with dementia in all care settings. This document aims to assist practitioners, providers and health and social care commissioners create opportunities for people living with dementia to develop an Advance Care Plan (ACP).
Support Plus Leaflet: Dementia. Support Plus, from NHS Wales Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, is a website with easy to read information. There are several leaflets including one on Dementia.