Agenda item

Consideration was given to a report on the implementation of the Dementia Strategy for Slough.  This was being taken forward in the context of the National Dementia Strategy 2009-2014, the Prime Ministers Dementia Challenge 2012 and the drive to improve dementia care services.

During 2012, an exercise was undertaken to compare Slough’s performance against each of the 17 National Dementia Strategy objectives.  This highlighted a number of achievements but also identified areas for further action, resulting in the following developments:

• The diagnosis and treatment pathway had now been refreshed, and contained steps for primary care screening, referrals as appropriate through to carer assessment and support.
• Current data projections suggested that the diagnosis rate for dementia in Slough was around 36%, leaving a total of approximately 570 undiagnosed Slough residents.  Work was being done to make GP dementia registers more accurate, Slough CCG had invested to increase capacity in memory services, and a new updated system of recording coming into effect from January 2014 was expected to show a considerably improved diagnosis rate.
• Numbers of people with dementia from BAME groups were expected to rise faster than the rest of the population although this was not borne out by figures for Slough.  The mental health service was due to employ a BAME Support Worker as a pilot project to investigate this.
• Because people with a learning disability who had a particular risk of developing dementia were not being identified, a streamlined pathway had been created to access diagnosis and treatment and a local database established for those at risk.
• Information, advice and support for service users and carers was being improved through the appointment of a Dementia advisor (who helped to ease the stress of diagnosis and signpost appropriate support) and the development of a Dementia Directory, a comprehensive web based directory of useful information.
• Using Dementia Challenge funding, dementia awareness training was to be delivered to 100 local businesses and services (including some of the Council’s public facing services) to raise awareness, challenge stigma and encourage local organisations to do all they can to make services ‘dementia friendly’.
• To meet deficiencies, the Council was developing an Extra Care Housing strategy and promoting access to assistive technology (telecare) to enable older people (including those with dementia) to stay in their own homes longer.

Arising from questions and discussion, the Panel recognised that making it easy for people to find information about and access to the services available was a challenge.  It was important to use a range of media and provide a spread of information suitable for people at different stages of their condition.  The real benefit of more Extra Care housing was noted: the aim was to provide two more schemes to add to the two existing successful developments, but this was dependent on identifying suitable sites and development funding.  It was necessary to continue to work on getting a more accurate picture of the numbers of dementia sufferers in the town and their needs in order that services could be designed and provided in the most effective way.

Resolved -   That the report be noted.