Need to know
For #TeamEEAST Last updated: 18 May 2024 at 13:54
Months of hard work have paid off yesterday (30th November) following the launch of the Trust’s ambitious dementia strategy, which looks to improve the care and experience for people with dementia.
Led by Area Clinical Lead Duncan Moore, the strategy sets out three years of objectives to ensure we become a dementia-friendly organisation.
Duncan was joined at the Trust Board meeting in public at Melbourn by Director of Clinical Quality Sandy Brown, and guests from Alzheimer’s Society.
Chair Sarah Boulton and CEO Robert Morton endorsed the strategy, saying “It’s great to see the dementia strategy. With an aging population, we will find that we treat more and more patients with dementia. It is so important to provide the best care to our patients, and having a strategy like this will help us.”
Sandy said: “There are more than 82,500 people in the East of England living with a diagnosis of dementia and in our capacity as an ambulance service and seeing people living with dementia every single day; we know we needed to put it at the centre of our work.
He added: “I want to thank Duncan for taking these massive strides in bringing the strategy to life. He will be key in building our relationships with people who can support our workforce in their dementia-friendly development, and I hope everyone gets behind this from the get go.”
Duncan said the collaborations will aid and support the work and contribute to improving the health and outcomes of those with dementia, and their carers: “Dementia is one of the greatest challenges facing our ageing society – just last week we saw reports nationally that the condition is now the leading cause of death in England and Wales.
“There has been major progress in recent years in securing public and political commitment to responding more effectively to dementia; our patient transport services routinely work with people living with dementia, and of course our staff and volunteers have to make emergency responses in the community to affected families and individuals.
“So in our capacity as an ambulance service and seeing people living with dementia every single day, we need to put it at the heart of our work to promote the patient and their family’s wellbeing and physical health - it’s the right thing for us to put a massive emphasis on developing our organisation to become dementia-friendly.”
You can read the strategy here, and for more information on the work and what you can do to support it, please email duncan.moore@eastamb.nhs.uk.
Keeping dignity and individuality for patients with dementia is vital; look back at our Complex Patients issue of Clinical Quality Matters (pages 30-32) to read about how we can improve our awareness of dementia, and the impact it has on the person living with it.
Published 1st December, 2016