Decision details

Councillor Evelyn Carpenter, the Lead Member of the Health and Adult Services Select Committee, introduced the report on the in-depth review of Dementia Services in the Borough and highlighted the following points:

·  Due to lack of awareness, only a small proportion of people who suffer from Dementia received support and treatment.

·  The Select Committee found that, out of 1700, only 379 cases of Dementia were recorded by GPs in the Borough.

·  The Select Committee’s scrutiny of Dementia coincided with the Government’s own publicity campaign to raise awareness and recognised that the Borough should carry out its own local campaign and provide training to GPs and health service workers.

She offered her thanks to Members and Officers for their contribution to the review and stated that the recommendations in the report were mainly based on lifestyle changes of residents in order to help prevent the early onset of dementia.

Councillor Bailey asked whether the report made any recommendations with regard to the provision of services to enable people remain in their own homes for as long as possible and what funding measures were in place to support this.

Councillor Carpenter responded that there was an excellent home service already available for elderly people in the Borough. Although there was no specific recommendation in the report, the Select Committee did take account of the National Dementia Strategy objectives and the Memory Service which seeks to enable people to stay in their own homes for longer. She further stated that the Government had made funding available to NHS Barking and Dagenham to help deliver the Strategy.

The Assembly therefore agreed the following recommendations:

1. That NHS Barking and Dagenham organise local health promotion campaigns to raise public and professional awareness about life-style changes, such as stopping smoking, eating healthily, drinking alcohol sensibly, exercising more and having regular health checks.

2. That the local Health Services, together with the Local Authority and Voluntary Sector, mount an awareness raising campaign about dementia to build on the Government’s national campaign and to begin the process of reducing the stigma attached to dementia.

3. That NHS Barking and Dagenham, the Local Authority and other health providers, improve awareness of dementia and memory services available to health care professionals, particularly GPs, and the voluntary sector through a planned work-force development programme and a clear referral pathway.

4. That NHS Barking and Dagenham, together with its health care partners including the North East London Foundation Trust, Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, and the Local Authority, prepare a joint strategic plan and undertake joint commissioning to develop an integrated care pathway for GPs, dementia patients and carers, which is clear and provides one point of contact.  It is important that the plan is based on accurate estimates of the number of dementia sufferers in Barking and Dagenham and that sufficient facilities are put in place to meet the expected increase in demand.

5. That the Local Authority, together with its health partners, review the delivery of services and consider providing a single point of contact for dementia patients and their carers.  The Select Committee recommend a more holistic, efficient and improved service by integrating relevant adult care services and voluntary sector services with the Memory Service at Morland Road.  When implemented, information about this new one point of contact should be included in a publicity campaign for potential users, GPs and health care professionals.

6. That as part of the action plan to improve dementia services, NHS Barking and Dagenham and the Local Authority should undertake an Equality Impact Assessment to consider the needs of the whole community and review the delivery of dementia services to the Black and Minority Ethic Community and hard to reach groups possibly through outreach in partnership with the voluntary sector.

7. That the Local Authority, health care professionals and the voluntary sector assist carers to keep their loved ones at home for as long as possible through improved information and training regarding treatment and drugs for dementia; techniques in administering medication; dealing with challenging behaviour; and preventing medical conditions such as urine infections.

8. That NHS Barking and Dagenham and the North East London Foundation Trust assess the need for, and the number of, dementia advisors to be linked to individual dementia patients and their carers for the duration of the illness to assist in accessing resources and services.

9. That NHS Barking and Dagenham take into account the specific needs of people with dementia when re-tendering the service to supply incontinence pads for dementia patients, ensuring that they provide the right size and quantity.

10. That the Local Authority review the specification for home care services to dementia patients to ensure consistent and high quality care across both private and Local Authority services, and for services to be available at week-ends.

11. That the Local Authority review arrangements for communicating the availability of respite care with dementia patients, carers, GPs and other health care professionals to ensure equitable access to these facilities across the Borough and by different ethnic groups.