This week is Dementia Awareness Week, with International Clinical Trials Day being celebrated on Tuesday of this week. To mark both these awareness campaigns, we are highlighting the importance of clinical trials in the improvement of treatment and resources available to those with dementia.
We spoke to Nicola Burke and Claire Shimmons, Dementia Care Practitioner/Team Leads, who said: “It is great to have the support of the research team here at the trust. It is important that people have the opportunity to be involved in research – it is not just people with a diagnosis of dementia that can participate in dementia related studies. Taking part in research can give people the sense of hope for the future.”
The Dementia Care Team are currently involved in two quality improvement projects:
Dining Immersive Experiential Training (DIET)
DIET is a pilot project aiming to improve the dining experience for people with dementia and improving their oral intake as it is common for people with dementia to have reduced appetite, forget to drink, or to overeat due to forgetting they have already eaten.
Colleagues have worked with Training 2 Care to develop DIET for the hospital setting. The training teaches colleagues to better understand the challenges faced by patients around mealtimes, with advice on how to improve the dining experience.
Reach Out To Me
The Reach Out To Me project aims to increase awareness and use of the Reach Out To Me (PDF) document through the use of questionnaires, education sessions and promotional work.
The ‘Reach Out To Me’ project, part of the Butterfly Scheme, is a person-centred document that details important information about the person’s preferences and history and helps colleagues to know the person better and provide the best possible care. This vital information can potentially help alleviate distress in an unfamiliar environment.
The trust is also participating in a clinical research survey for dementia, called MINDER.
MINDER aims to improve the lives and wellbeing of people with dementia. The aim is to gather feedback regarding the use of medical devices for people living with dementia.
The study is sponsored by Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and funded by NHS England; Innovate UK. Take part in the MINDER survey, it only take 5-10 minutes to complete.
Jo-Anne Taylor, Head of Research, commented: “We are so lucky to have such an engaged and experienced dementia team. Our clinical research team have collaborated with the dementia teams at all sites with several studies over several years. We must remember that every small step we take in improving patient treatment and care for dementia has a significant impact on our patients and their families.”
The Alzheimer Society provides a huge amount of information and resources for the public and for clinical professionals.
To speak to the Dementia team esht.DementiaCareTeam@nhs.net.