The Trust which
runs Shropshire’s two acute hospitals is to host a conference which will look
at improvements in care for people living with dementia.
The conference – Changing
Dementia Care – will take place at the Shropshire Conference Centre at the Royal
Shrewsbury Hospital on 18 May 2017.
Speakers confirmed for the event include Chris Roberts and Jayne
Goodrick, who featured in an extraordinary BBC Panorama documentary about
living with dementia.
It is the latest conference to be hosted by The Shrewsbury and Telford
Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) as it continues to look at innovative ways of
improving patient care not only at its two hospitals – the Royal Shrewsbury
Hospital (RSH) and the Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford – but also in
the wider community.
The Changing
Dementia Care conference follows two successful end of life care conferences
held in the last two years. It is being organised by Karen Breese, Dementia
Clinical Specialist at SaTH.
She said: “A
quarter of patients in our hospitals live with a dementia or some form of
confusion. We are working to ensure that those patients, and their carers,
receive the individualised and sensitive care that is appropriate to their
needs, to help to ensure that their stay in hospital is no longer than it needs
to be.
“In recent years,
there have been a number of initiatives that we have introduced in order to
improve care for people living with dementia and for the people who care for
them. This conference will build on that and is an excellent opportunity for
health and social care professionals to improve the care that they offer.”
In September last year, SaTH launched
its Living Well With Dementia appeal. The three
year appeal aims to raise £2.6 million to provide a number of benefits for
patients to improve ward and outpatient departments so that they are dementia
friendly.
Work will include improvements to the ward and outpatient environments
to make them dementia friendly, new clocks, colour-coded hand rails and toilet
seats, improved signage, new crockery and cutlery and reminiscence items.
This will build on other initiatives developed by SaTH in recent years,
including:
The Butterfly Scheme, which uses a butterfly symbol to quickly and
discreetly identify patients with dementia or confusion.
The Carer’s Passport, encouraging carers to visit and stay with patients
living with dementia in order to provide reassurance, support, and help with
eating and drinking and other day-to-day activities.
This Is Me, a leaflet that people living with dementia can use to tell
staff about their needs, preferences, likes, dislikes and interests.
Twiddlemuffs, thick hand muffs with bits and bobs attached to the inside
and out which are designed to provide a stimulation activity for restless hands
for patients with dementia.
Dementia-Friendly Café – held once a month at PRH with plans to
introduce a similar café at RSH to allow people with dementia and their carers
to get together over coffee and cake to talk about their experiences.
Karen said: “The
conference will open with national speakers and will be followed by an
afternoon of workshops, delivered by local experts who will share their
experience, knowledge and examples of good practice.
“We are very
excited to be holding this conference for the first time. It promises to be an
excellent day.”
SOURCE: James Baylis, Wrekin News
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