Agenda item

In attendance will be the Commissioning Manager for Dementia, District Commissioning Lead for Newcastle and the Commissioning Manager for North Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group

The purpose of the report was to provide an overview of the work that was taking place within both health and social care, for people living with dementia, including their families/carers, living in Newcastle-under-Lyme and Staffordshire Moorlands.

The Commissioning Managers at Staffordshire County Council and North Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group work closely together in order to deliver the dementia strategy, with support from a dedicated clinical lead.

The majority of people living with dementia were over the age of 65 and prevalence increased with age; however a number of people with young onset dementia were increasing.

A Member advised of the work Audley Patient Panel carry out to support people with dementia.  The Patient Panel was created to listen, help and improve the healthcare of patients of the Audley Health Centre. They were a voluntary, independent group of patients who seek to represent the views of all patients.  The theme of dementia would be continued for the foreseeable future as there were meetings planned for later this month with the practice and the panel with a member from the CCG to try and put together a plan for making Audley surgery dementia friendly and for taking the project to the wider audience in the Audley area.  This topic would be revisited in the new year when it was hoped there would a clear understanding of the work needed to achieve dementia friendly status.

Concern was raised around lack of awareness and follow up action from GPs, as well as what care was there in place to help families think long term for the care their loved ones required to remain in their own home for as long as possible.

The North Staffordshire CCG Manager advised that educational sessions and training were routinely carried out.  Clinical Assistants visit practices where dementia diagnosis was low.  Staffordshire County Council were commissioning a piece of work surrounding GPs across Staffordshire and a summary should be ready to bring back to Committee for the 6^th April 2016 meeting.

Pre-empting needs to be considered in the future with assisted technologies to be looked at.

Much of the work over the last twelve months had been to raise awareness amongst professionals and increase dementia diagnosis rates.  The CCG had to report on this nationally and diagnosis rates had increased from 40% to 71% over the last twelve months.  Within the assessment, every twelve months, GPs review the element of care for dementia patients.

There was a dialogue in place within GP practices which alerts the appointment system if a patient was diagnosed with dementia enabling a double appointment to be allocated.

It was asked how much funding had been invested to support the carers?

A networking society service had been commissioned twelve months ago, with support from Staffordshire County Council.  Cafe peer support groups were also approached.

The Commissioning Manager reported there was governance in place and wished to work closer with colleagues at Stoke-on-Trent CCG to develop a pathway.  There was also a piece of work prepared around dementia friendly communities bringing together community enhancing principles.

A number of questions were presented to Committee with a view that Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council became a member of the Dementia Action Alliance.

The Chair advised that Scrutiny fully supported the Dementia Action Alliance and asked to be kept updated on future developments particularly surrounding the Dementia Plan.

Resolved:-

(a)   The Committee agreed to become a member of the Dementia Action Alliance.

(b)   That a summary of the pilot project, Dementia Primary Care Liaison Service (Community Psychiatric Nurses supporting primary care) is presented to Committee at its meeting on the 6^th April 2016.