“You can’t do that in dementia care” – meeting the challenges of inclusive dementia care.

Presenter: Professor Richard Cheston

At least 25,000 people from minority ethnic communities are living with dementia in the UK. However, there are likely to be important differences in the services that people from these communities receive compared to their white-British counterparts. For instance, people from many communities are significantly less likely to receive a diagnosis of dementia and when they are diagnosed then this is likely to be at a later stage in the illness when they are more severely impaired. Consequently, they are likely to miss out on receiving NICE approved treatments including medication, while they and their families are likely to live with increased levels of strain and uncertainty. There are also important differences in the services that people from these three communities receive later in the dementia pathway – with service users often reporting that statutory provision simply does not meet their needs. Instead, people from these communities are more likely to be reliant on local, community-based organisations outside the dementia mainstream for support.

One alternative method of delivering services is for NHS and other agencies to work increasingly in partnership with community organisations who represent these communities. While this has many potential benefits, there are also many challenges to this work – for instance often community workers do not feel that their expertise is sufficiently valued, or that the constraints on their work are fully appreciated. This presentation will outline these challenges and briefly outline some potential solutions to these.

This event is being run by ExChange Wales - please contact them directly with any enquiries.