The work carried out for this project resulted in the elaboration of a dementia journey from the point of view of people living with dementia (Table 2). By understanding the journey, services can be designed around the perspective of those who need them.
Other commentators have suggested similar approaches (most notably, the Windows of Opportunity approach).
The critical premise of a journey – albeit one that can take different turns and is not always linear – is that there are some common predictable elements (or phases), which enables planning and prevention for the people living with dementia and those providing services. There are needs and issues to be addressed at each phase and proactive actions can be identified early on to prevent problems in later phases. Furthermore, outcomes can be identified, linked to each of these phases or more usually that cut across the phases of the journey.
A number of person-centred outcomes can be associated with each phase of the dementia journey. These directly reflect the issues raised by people living with dementia who contributed to this report.
