Dementia team wins extra cash for service
HEALTH bosses are funding a team for people with dementia after the illness was named the country’s biggest killer.
East Cheshire Hospice started the team, which aims to help people with dementia at the end of their lives. It was a pilot project with another hospice, St Luke’s in Winsford.
The team educates family members, carers and health and social care professionals about dementia, and aims to reduce unnecessary hospital admissions.
It’s said to have had a major impact to date, reducing avoidable hospital activity to a value of £220,000.
Now, the three clinical commissioning groups that plan and buy the area’s healthcare – Eastern Cheshire, South Cheshire and Vale Royal – have agreed to fund the ‘Advanced Dementia Support Team’ so it can carry on its work. The hospice still part-funds the project.
The team aims to address the fact that between 70 and 80 per cent of people in the borough’s care homes have dementia.
Team leader Sian Harrison, from Rainow, said: “Our team is now funded by the three CCGs and we work across health and social care settings.
“Our base in the east is in East Cheshire Hospice but we are mainly out teaching sessions in a variety of settings, in care homes, Macclesfield hospital, GP surgeries, social work teams and to carers’ groups.
“Because we are a small team we can’t directly deliver care to dementia patients. However we give those professionals and families that are delivering the care the skills, knowledge and confidence to meet the needs of people with advanced dementia.”
It comes after reports that dementia has overtaken heart disease as the biggest cause of death in England and Wales. The news was based on 2015 figures that had the disease accounting for one in eight deaths, or 61,686 in total.
Sian, who has a background in nursing and social work, said: “This funding is an important achievement as there is much evidence that people with advanced dementia fare much better in familiar, appropriately-resourced settings than in hospitals.
“It’s also critical that every penny is spent well at a time when the NHS is financially stretched as never before.”
The team is part of the End of Life Partnership, a charity which aims to improve end of life care. For more information call 01270 758 120 or email dementia@eolp.org.uk.