Sarah Deakin: We know that dementia is a growing issue in society, more and more people are
living longer and so more people are developing dementia and so we are seeing more people
being admitted to hospital who have dementia, so it is really important that staff have
an understanding because it is a really complex disease and you know people struggle when
they are in hospital because they have difficulties with the environment, communicating their
needs and so it is so key that staff have an understanding. We wanted the Alzheimer’s
Society to specifically look at the challenges and complexity of care when people are in
hospital.
Polly: The Alzheimer’s Society Training and consultancy provides training throughout
the country to organisations that deliver care to people with dementia.
Sarah Deakin: The feedback and evaluations we have had have been fantastic, and you know
it’s not uncommon for staff to write, ‘Everyone should have this training.’
Participant: It’s really important for anybody who works with patient group to come and do
this course because it is really invaluable.
Polly: People will say that they feel like they have been given skills they feel like
they’ve a bag of tools that liberates them. That they can now see the association between
what they have learnt with the people that they are seeing on a day to day basis at work
and a lot of people will often say as well that it’s not just about work, it’s about
people they know in their home life.
Sarah Deakin: think the training really empowers people to understand that everybody is an
individual. We are not diseases, we are not dementia patients, we’re not asthmatic patients,
we’re not epileptic patients. We are people who have illnesses and we need to treat people
as individuals. We have had a fantastic experience. The trainers
have been excellent. We’ve got a good working relationship. They are tailor made packages
actually. So if a trust came along and said this is a particular area that we are struggling
with we would like you to look at this with us. They will meet your need as individuals
and I think that is what is particularly good about the training.
Participant at the training: A lot of the courses that you go on are quite boring listening
but this is quite interesting and interactive and the communication is really good between
the leader and the group as well and having different activities built into it is really
good.
Polly: Our training is new and dynamic and its design is based on what people want and
what they have told us they need.
Mel Kershaw: I want people here who have dementia who stay here in this home to feel safe, to
feel cared for, to feel at home, to feel secure. The training that I attended I was able to
then come back into the home and have meetings with the staff and channel down what I have
learnt and just by doing that it changed the staff’s perspective and then they were able
to reflect on their approach and their style. The carers take a person centred approach,
in my opinion makes their life a lot easier.
Julie Bell: Of all the courses that I have ever attended it’s the one that has really
enthused me to go out, and the action plans that you do every session is really practical.
You go away with real things that you can do with your staff and your team. You look
at your own practice and where the company is at and where we want to be.
Mel Kershaw: It really made me think about individuals and their preferences and how
the environment can affect them.
Natalie Wilson: The feedback we have had following the training has been phenomenal really we
have had such positive response and it’s really made a difference to people’s practice.
Julie Bell: The staff feel more confident, they go away from the course wanting to put
their skills into practice and then they feedback to me that, ‘Julie, it’s working’ which
is always a good thing.
Mel Kershaw: There are lots of environmental changes in the home and also the attitude
of staff is different. The training has definitely had a positive impact on the care that we
deliver.
Julie Bell: You go around our care homes now and the residents are helping to set tables.
You know, they’re helping. Here, they bring out the laundry to be folded up by residents,
pairing socks up. People have roles in the care home as well. They have a lady who gives
out the tea and takes biscuits around. We try to gear it to their life history as well
so that the residents feel that they are running the home with us, not that they are in a home.