North East Dementia Alliance

The North East Dementia Alliance is a partnership of health, social care, voluntary and private sector organisations. We work to drive up improvements in health and care, create dementia friendly communities and improve research.

If you would like to know more about the work of the Alliance please contact Debbie Smith.

Key to the Alliance is involving people with dementia in every aspect of our work.

The Alliance works to improve services around six key priorities:

  • good quality early diagnosis
  • improved quality of care in general hospitals
  • living well with dementia in care homes
  • reduction of the inappropriate prescribing of anti-psychotic medication
  • development of dementia friendly communities
  • improving care and support to people with dementia from minority communities.

Dementia Alliance Update

To register for the newsletter please email the Alliance here.

Reports from the Alliance

All reports from the Alliance are added to the Public Health Intelligence North East (PHINE) website which you can access by clicking here. Reports include workforce and dementia statistics for the North East. We are working on some short summary documents which we will share on this site soon.

Open Clasp

As part of this project, Open Clasp has produced ‘Embracing Difference: Dementia Care for Minority Communities’ which builds on their play Swags & Tails (clip above), which was part funded by the Foundation.

The DVD was created in collaboration with women, carers and care staff throughout the North East. Whether you are a community group, care provider, a carer, a health or social care professional, living with dementia or keen to know more, this DVD can help you to think through some of the issues surrounding people living with dementia from minority communities.

The DVD is free to organisations in the North East. If you would like a copy please contact the Alliance.

Recent work of the Alliance

 

Meeting the spiritual needs of people with dementia

Northumbria University has produced a resource guide to help raise awareness of the spiritual needs of people with dementia. The guide explores how local communities could be more involved in supporting people with dementia to maintain their spirituality.

This guide pulls together a range of valuable information including guides, websites, film clips and features case studies of how individuals and communities in our region have made a significant impact in supporting people with dementia and their carers. Hopefully, other communities may be inspired to consider what could be done to improve local support.

The production of this guide was funded by the North East Dementia Alliance, we hope you find the guide useful.

 

Support and Care for People Living with Dementia from Minority Communities

The project ‘Support and Care for People Living with Dementia from Minority Communities’ was commissioned by the North East Dementia Alliance as part of their programme of work around dementia within minority communities for 2013-2014. The project aimed to make suggestions and recommendations of what the North East Dementia Alliance could further develop and influence in relation to the support and care to people with dementia from minority communities in the North East. The minority communities that formed the focus of the research were:

  • Black and minority ethnic communities
  • Gypsy and Traveller communities
  • Lesbian, gay and bisexual communities
  • Transgender communities
  • Religious minority communities
  • Individuals with learning disabilities and dementia
  • Younger people with dementia

The project’s research included an in-depth literature review of current policy and existing research as well as semi-structured interviews with service providers from across the UK and community representatives in the North East.

 

Knowing the Foundations of Dementia Friendly Communities for the North East

This report was commissioned by the North East Dementia Alliance to inform their programme of work on dementia friendly communities for 2012-2013. The project sought to identify how to define what dementia friendly communities are, including:

  • What aims do dementia friendly communities seek to achieve?
  • What factors need to be addressed in order to achieve these aims?
  • What is known about how to bring dementia friendly communities in to being?

The project’s research included examples of national best practice, a literature review, semi-structured conversations and an analysis of information submitted by individuals who were, or had been involved in the development of dementia friendly communities.