Improving Dementia Care In The UK - New Ideas And Best Practice

Posted by Ofentse Wolfgang

April 18, 2010

Dementia now affects an estimated 700000 people across the UK, and the number of people diagnosed with the condition in the UK is expected to rise to one million within a decade due to the ageing population.

East Yorkshire based management consultancy Agencia Consulting has extensive experience in helping NHS trusts across the country to develop their social care services for older people. Ian Hargreaves, Head of Social Care and Communities at Agencia, talks about how health and social care providers could improve dementia services by working together:

“One of the best ways to improve dementia care comes from securing the opportunities for joint working between health and social care systems. At the moment, dementia care is often split, with separate health and social service providers for diagnosis and ongoing care. This can mean that large numbers of people are often unsure as to whether they have ‘medical’ or ’social’ needs and have no clear journey from diagnosis to longer term care.

“From working in many different areas, we have found that the most sustainable, successful and forward looking dementia care models are in places where a working partnership between the providers of social care and healthcare already exists. Providers can improve the quality of their care, whilst making savings on cost and efficiency by working together, consulting with patients and families and creating an integrated, holistic care model.

“As part of Agencia’s consultation work, we have spoken to service users and carers from across the UK, and the vast majority say they want to remain in their homes for as long as possible. Creating a service that can achieve this goal means that available resources need to be re-engineered, and investment must be made in re-ablement and preventative services in the community, so that people are not taken into medical services to begin with.

“As the population ages, demand will increase for mental health services, and will force us to reorganise the way we use our finite resources. Avoiding hospital admissions through the improvement of diagnosis and the building up of intermediate services will be crucial.

“At Agencia, we specialise in change management and delivering strategic planning. We have worked with the NHS for many years, and our expert teams have a strong track record in advising and supporting the re-engineering of social and health services to meet government targets. Agencia also offers efficiency support and longer-term service planning, as well as consultation services for existing patients and their families.”

Agencia works with major private and public sector organisations in the UK and Internationally, helping them to plan and manage strategic change. The Agencia team includes consultants with top-level experience from a range of sectors, including healthcare, social care, the judicial system and local authorities and has a track record of sucessfully developing and growing organisations.

Agencia Consulting is a management consultancy offering a variety of services to the public, private and third sectors. To find out more about its work on care for dementia please take a look at its strategic planning website.

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