Decision Maker: Cabinet, Assembly
Decision status: Approved
Is Key decision?: Yes
Is subject to call in?: No
Decisions:
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Publication date: 26/03/2010
Date of decision: 24/03/2010
Decided at meeting: 24/03/2010 - Assembly
Accompanying Documents: