Dementia Insight report: summary paper

Overview

Following on from the survey which closed in April 2023, further work took place until December 2023 to share the survey findings across the system in various care and health forums, this also included care provider engagement sessions, and reference groups to check have we heard you right. The survey has increased visibility through a workforce lens of caring for someone with diagnosed and undiagnosed Dementia with complex presentations in a residential, nursing, and wider community care setting, and highlighting aspects of the wider pathway around the care setting. The findings support an ongoing focus to activity that promote effective transitions, and the integration of pathways across multiple disciplines at a local system level, and key to supporting delivery of positive place-based outcomes. In turn, increasing the likelihood of stable and secure lives for people living with dementia, and where needs change to be able to continue to live-well.

What we heard

• There is a need to receive an accurate assessment and clear information about residents from professionals and families.
• The biggest challenge for care homes is understanding how to manage distressed behaviours.
• More dementia-friendly homes would reduce distressed behaviour.
• There is a need to improve support from external partners, such as Mental Health services, GP’s, wider NHS including Dementia Intensive Support Teams.
• There is a need to improve support internally within the care setting; appropriate funding, and training to support staff recruitment and retention.
• A need for increasingly join up care to meet needs, increased benefits for residents and decreased frustrations for staff.

What we are doing

Activity for market focus currently and in the shorter-term 2023-25: Key dependencies to progressing work around Integrated Care Systems (ICS) Market Shaping, Care Market Workforce and overarching strategies linked to the care and support offer for people living with Dementia in Essex.

• A new Needs Assessment Tool (NAT) system to deliver exceptional needs payments has been created which is simpler, more straight forward and joined up to enable a more open and transparent process to receiving payments more quickly.

 

• Allocation of the Market Sustainability Improvement Fund (MSIF) grant to support fee increases and launch of additional funds for ASC providers to promote access to free training, with payment to attend, and a retention bonus fund.

 

• Future commissioning of care, including residential, nursing, and domiciliary, and emerging thinking on models responding to increasing complexity in the marketplace. Focus on gaps in service-support to look at what could work differently, been available sooner, including discharge through transfer of care arrangements to support improved outcomes and experiences of people living with dementia, in transition between health and care settings.

 

• Cross commissioning opportunities to use contractual influence across the wider sector and within localised systems to influence a wider wraparound of dementia care and support in communities at place-level.

 

• Build on discharge schemes and learning from pilot activity to understand what works best to support people post-discharge from acute settings to have a good transition into a care setting and decrease in placement breakdowns and/or readmission to hospital for people living with dementia.

 

• Focus on transitions and pathways across local systems that impact on the delivery of effective place-based outcomes in community through ongoing progress with integrated and locality working.

 

• Ability to use the survey findings with increased confidence and areas of workforce focus in relation to training, information, support, and environment. This is shaping a new enhanced training offer, and the development of a new Dementia page on the Essex Provider Hub.

 

• Explore solutions in the challenges and opportunities, to inform the evidence base for interventions, including Pilot activity, such as discharge schemes and Technology Enabled Care (TEC).

 

• Insight supported wider workstream activity around quantifying dementia complexity through wider interface, and multiple themes cross referenced to other internal data and analytical products.

 

• Using the Essex Dementia Friendly Communities work to support uptick in dementia-friendly accreditations in our Essex care-based settings. At a place-based level promoting a wider social model that moves beyond connecting people with wider services but connecting people in care settings within the centre of community life, with people of all ages and interests.

The full report is available here, if unable to access can be sent on request: Link to Insight Report