Dementia Strategy

NHS Support for Social Care Programme
Prior to the development of the Health and Wellbeing Strategy, £400k of NHS Support for Social Care funding between April 2011 and March 2013 was allocated to provide additional services for people with dementia and their carers.
With this funding, the Adults & Health Transformation programme commissioned three new pilot services aimed at supporting people with dementia and their carers. The outcomes of these three services will be measured through reduced demand on health and social care services as well as changes to individuals and their carers’ quality of life. The impact of these services will be reviewed by local commissioners by the end of May 2013 to inform future commissioning decisions.
All three services provide regular statistics and information on the services they provide. The key points from the services provided to date are summarised in Fig 1 above and described in more detail below.
Peer Support Service and Singing for the Brain Groups
The Peer Support service provides support for people with dementia and their carers by recruiting and matching volunteers to run groups, and matching people with dementia and their carers to others on the basis of shared needs and preferences. It has set up a network of six peer support groups, including three music-based Singing for the Brain groups. The service is delivered by the Alzheimer’s Society and a Peer Support Facilitator has been appointed to take the service forward and lead the groups, supported by the trained volunteers.
The service aims to enable people with dementia to remain independent in their own homes and allow carers to continue caring for longer, reducing the financial demand on health and social care departments, particularly through residential care admissions and delayed discharges through acute care settings.
Referrals for the groups have been through Alzheimer’s Society’s strong partnership links with other borough voluntary and statutory organisations, particularly Havering Memory Clinic, Age Concern Havering Dementia Advisory Service, Admiral Nursing and NELFT. The work of CarePoint and the Information & Advice Outreach Service described later in this report, which aims to improve information and advice within community settings, has helped to promote these services to people who may not be accessing other services.
General peer support groups have been running in Romford, Cranham, Harold Hill, Collier Row, Rainham and Hornchurch since March 2012. Attendance has varied at these groups (49 attendances from people with dementia between March 2012 and January 2013) but all have been valuable in enabling people with dementia and their carers to come together, share their experiences and gain advice. Of particular benefit has been the emotional support given by the experienced volunteers and staff members to people caring for someone with dementia.
People have self-referred to this service following an extensive advertising campaign in the local community as well as promotion on the national Alzheimer’s Society website.