Dementia Strategy: What shall we do for people with dementia in Tameside & Glossop ?

On Thursday 2nd July Haughton Thornley Medical Centres invited local GPs, nurses, social services, managers, nurses and senior carers from local nursing and residential homes, staff working with the local Asian community and some patients whose relatives suffer with dementia to come along and learn about local developments and an integrated approach on how we might improve rhe way we deliver services.

• Introduction by Dr Singh to the meeting
• Purpose of recording the event for others to see

• Kenneth (husband of a patient recently admitted into a nursing home after a crisis) describing his experience of dementia services
• His views of what he thinks patients need and the important role carers have in supporting patients

• Yvonne Bennett speaks on behalf of Irene whose husband was diagnosed with dementia a few years ago.
• She reads out a letter from Irene describing her experience of what happened when her husband suddenly stsrted to act bizarrely and completely out of character and its effect on her.

• Dr Mohammed Abdool Ali, FY2 doctor, discusses what dementia is
• He describes how we assess dementia patients and what questionnaires are available
• He shows what template we use on the electronic health record which helps us to monitor patients function over time

• Dr Hannan describes the exponential rise in knowledge about healthcare and the near impossibility for clinicians today to keep up-to-date with information and to be able to deliver the latest evidence based medicine and see patients at the same time using traditional methods of learning and practice
• He describes what Map of Medicine is and what it offers clinicians as well as patients and the public
• He also describes NHS Evidence which has recently been launched
• Finally he describes how patient access to the GP electronic health record as well as the Healthguides from Map of Medicine and HealthSpace support patients to get better quality care. The practice website (which includes videos like this) help to explain to patients, carers, clinicians and managers how they can learn how to do this and be supported 

• Dr Asad Sadiq, consultant psychiatrist and Mental Health IT lead at NHS North-West describes his experience of dementia and some of the difficulties clinicians in secondary care have with lack of information systems to help them deliver care

• Simon Morton describes "Making Connections, not assumptions" - an initiative in Oldham as well as Tameside & Glossop to help identify ad treat older Asian women who may be suffering with mental health problems as well as dementia and who traditionally have poor access to services.

• Dr David Jolley, Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist gives his views about dementia services and how they are organised and some of the intricacies in managing a very personal but often devastating condition
• He describes the recently announced Dementia strategy and how it relates to his practice as well as experience that he has had having treated patients with dementia for over 30 years during his career.
• He describes the need for a personalised service which caters for the patient and the carer and the opportunity of having a service based primarily in primary care (GP surgery and community staff) but supported by secondary care (hospital) for those with more complex needs.
• There is a complex interplay between the need for evidence based medicine and the need to respond to a patient's individual needs within a complex healthcare environment where there and many other pressures too

Further information about Dementia is available here from NHS Choices

Also you can see the Map of Medicine pathway which is the knowledge management tool showing the latest evidenced based medicine on how to assess and treat suspected dementiaand some of the issues you may wish to consider with your clinician as you decide further management and what choices you may have.

Don't forget to use HealthSpace to remind yourself of any appointments you may have. You will need to add your appointments yourself and then set it to send you a reminder via e-mail. You can also use it to monitor your health whilst you are on treatment and to store any notes in case you want to raise any issues with the doctor or nurse next time you go. It's your personal organiser on the internet for you! If you are becoming forgetful then you may wish to allow your carer to do this for you - they cannot access your electronic health record without your permission.

Get access to your GP electronic health record so that you can check when your last mammogram was and the result and also see when you are next due. If you have breast cancer then you should also get access to your records so that you can keep a closer eye on your health and help to monitor it better. For further information please click here. 

Click here to see the National Dementia Strategy from NHS Evidence

Please note: We are aware that the quality of the video recordings shown are of fairly poor quality, however we feel that the information provided is invaluable.