Objective 2. Good-quality early diagnosis and intervention for all
Devon memory café’s
The local joint commissioning strategy aimed to start up memory café’s in every market and coastal town in Devon and Exeter. This was informed by positive reviews of the 11 existing café’s which support service users and carers in managing dementia positively and raising awareness and promoting the inclusion of people with dementia.
One hundred volunteers have been trained in dementia awareness, through Steve Milton and Innovations in Dementia. Many community and charitable organisations, such as local Rotary Clubs, have been very keen to support the model both financially and practically. The work has had strong leadership from a very dedicated carer working voluntarily. The Senior Council for Devon have galvanised their members in local communities to engage community groups and other interested parties
Future plans include developing a memory café network support service to promote and energise the Café movement, to ensure that people involved in running café’s had a place to share good practice and developments, new ideas and somewhere to find out what is happening across the county. There is also a plan to diversify the service to respond to needs from younger people with dementia, people with learning disability and dementia as well as people from Black and Minority ethnic groups.
Contact: Jenny Richards, Joint Strategic Planning and Commissioning Manager, Older people’s mental health, Devon County Council/NHS Devon, [email protected]
Swindon
Forget Me Not project involves an innovative service for younger people with early onset dementia.
Contact: [email protected]
Cornwall
The use of World Class Commissioning outcomes to improve access to early diagnosis for dementia and strengthen care and support with a planned trajectory of people on GP registers.
Contact: [email protected]
Torbay
Memory café and assessment work which has been developed over several years and single assessment in place.
Contact: [email protected]