We have established a regional network for workforce leads in dementia care. This open and free network will be meeting on a bi-monthly basis throughout 2011 up until March 2012, and people with an interest in dementia workforce development are encouraged to attend.

For further information contact Diane Bardsley [email protected] or to join the group please contact Faye Brazier [email protected].

June 2011 meeting
Another successful and well attended Regional Dementia workforce network meeting was held on the 21st June in Taunton. Presentations included an update from Skills for Care on qualifications and learning by Rosie Mainwaring and information on engaging with community groups in Gloucestershire by Helen Vaughan. Both were followed by discussions and questions.

A discussion and feedback by the group followed on the current dementia workbooks developed as freely accessible learning resources through this South West Dementia Partnership website. The group were also presented with a new draft workbook being developed by Tina Kukstas and Diane Bardsley on ‘Behaviours that challenge us’ which is currently being consulted on. The group offered some really helpful ideas to enhance the current draft. The workbook should be available from the end of July on this website.

After lunch Diane Bardsley gave a brief update on the Dementia sub Project Advisory Group work and progress which is part of the Learn4Health developments. The group also considered and commented on a dementia competency framework which Diane has been developing as part of her dementia workforce projects.

This was followed with a presentation by Michelle Robbins from Somerset on observational tools currently used such as Dementia Care Mapping and other tools. The group then discussed the needs locally around observational approaches and it was decided developing a regional observational tool that could be used internally or externally could be very beneficial and cost effective. So this has been proposed to be developed by the group during the next meeting in September.

Finally the group discussed their progress around dementia and workforce issues within their local areas.

The evaluation of the meeting was extremely positive with many people stating they were extremely glad they came and that it will help inform their work. Some of the best things about the day were noted as the networking, catching up on everything, the discussions, information on the workbooks and time for reflection.

March 2011 meeting
Another highly successful meeting was held on the 17th March 2011 at Taunton Rugby Football Club of the Regional Network for Dementia Workforce Leads and Trainers. Attendance was very high and there was a mixture of people, organisations and sectors from across the region including health, social care, voluntary sector, private and independent sectors, workforce funding provider and Skills for Care.

There was a very informative session where the members gave an update on key areas of progress within their areas and they each highlighted key issues and ‘hot topics’ which were returned to at the end of the day with Community Planning and Dementia Care Mapping discussed and other topics considered for future meetings.

Dr Leah Jones gave a very interesting presentation on ‘Educational interventions to improve diagnosis and management of dementia in Primary Care‘.

Tina Kukstas of Dementia Training Solutions followed with a presentation and discussion around the work of Gloucestershire with Dementia Link Workers and the resources used to support them. She then discussed the development of new dementia workbooks and bite sized presentations based on material developed in Gloucestershire that have been adapted as a free, open and accessible resource. This material is available on this website.

Tina has written the workbooks in conjunction with an advisory group and the workbooks have been consulted on with a group of volunteers from the Dementia Workforce network and others. The workbooks are based on a 3 step approach with step 1 ‘Essential dementia awareness‘ and step 2 ‘Further knowledge in dementia‘.

Tina also explored with the group topics they feel would be useful for step 3. The aim of the step 3 workbook is to give learners opportunity to gain greater depth of knowledge on certain topics. The group offered an extensive list and they then voted on priority topics.

Rebecca Hardwick of South West Development Centre showed the group how the new workforce development section of the website and discussed the extensive range of learning resources which are available in the learning library.

Diane Bardsley gave a presentation and discussed the developments of the new Learning Platform which is being developed by Tribal Consortia in partnership across the region. Find out more here.

Diane also discussed a dementia workforce commissioning guidance document that is currently being written and members were able to offer suggestions of topics to be included. This commissioning guidance document will be available by May on this website.

Members filled out evaluation forms which were very positive with 68% were extremely glad they came. Best things about the day included: ‘hearing from a wide range of people in different work contexts’, ‘sharing ideas to communicate to commissioners’, ‘the 2 workbooks’, ‘listening to people and finding out what they are doing’, ‘Leah Jones talking about primary care’, ‘SWDP website developments’ and ‘idea generation’ and ‘partnership working’.

The next network meeting will be held during May. This network is open to anyone involved in dementia workforce developments from all sectors. The meetings are held bi-monthly and are facilitated by South West Development Centre on behalf of the South West Dementia Partnership. Members are encouraged to send agenda items and topics for discussion.

Inaugural meeting
The inaugural meeting on 7th December 2010 was well attended with people from a range of organisations across the South West. The day included presentations on:

• the purpose of the Network and the Gloucestershire model, Diane Bardsley, South West Development Centre
• South West regional approach for social care workforce redesign, Virginia McCriric, Department of Health South West
• the Dementia Training and Education Strategy for Gloucestershire: a multi – agency approach for Gloucestershire that supports the National Dementia Strategy, Angela Willis, NHS Gloucestershire
• the collation of dementia workforce resources, Rebecca Hardwick, South West Development Centre

A very useful session was spent with the group all sharing their work, good practice and progress across the different local areas.