Shropshire Star

Call over dementia care at Shropshire's hospitals

The chairman of a group which campaigns to get the best care for people living with dementia says the trust running Shropshire's two main hospitals is not doing enough.

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George Rook, chair of Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin Dementia Action Alliance, says The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (Sath) signed up to the Dementia-Friendly Hospital Charter, but isn't doing enough to implement it.

The charter, which was launched by the National Dementia Action Alliance in 2015, provides guidance on best practice for staff and shows what people with dementia, their carers and families should expect.

Mr Rook claims inpatients with dementia at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Telford's Princess Royal Hospital, and their carers, 'consistently report poor, unacceptable, and often very upsetting experiences of care'.

Ignores

He said: "The excellent but tiny team of one dementia nurse and three assistants is unable to do more than scratch the surface.

"I have asked and cajoled for action to be taken for years.

"I have dementia. 6,500 people in Shropshire Telford and Wrekin have dementia.

"We don't have time to wait for action while Sath prevaricates and ignores our needs."

The trust says it has done a lot of work over the past few years but still has some way to go to become a dementia-friendly trust.

Dementia training has been delivered to 70 per cent of staff in the last year, and Sath has introduced a number of initiatives in the past few years to help people with dementia.

These include The Butterfly Scheme, which uses a butterfly symbol to quickly and discreetly identify patients with dementia or confusion; dementia cafes; dementia-friendly crockery; specialist dolls and finger foods specially designed for patients with dementia.

Engage

Karen Breese, dementia clinical specialist at Sath, said: “Evidence shows that people living with dementia who are admitted to an acute trust can have a difficult experience due to the change of environment and routines, coupled with noise and a lack of full understanding of their needs.

“As a trust we have done a lot of work over the last three years.

"We know we still have some way to go to become a dementia-friendly trust, however with hard work and commitment we are working towards this.

“In the last 12 months, we have delivered dementia training to 70 per cent of our staff.

"We also need to ensure we engage with our temporary and agency staff who work with us in many of our areas while we recruit to permanent posts.

"Our partnership work with carers is improving, with a working group looking at information and carers’ passports.”

The Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin Dementia Action Alliance is made up of organisations that operate across the area working together to make the region dementia friendly.