Dara de Burca, Executive Director of Dementia Support and Partnerships at Alzheimer’s Society, explores the importance of training for professional carers to empower those affected by dementia and elevate compassionate social care.
We must get social care right for people living with dementia once and for all.
Around 60% of people who receive home care in the UK and 70% of people living in residential care homes in England have dementia, and these people rely on the social care system for support with daily activities, to manage their symptoms and to help them live as well as they can. Yet, the current system is not delivering the level of support or the personalised care they desperately need. This can, and must, change – and a workforce skilled in dementia specific care has a crucial role to play.
We know that people with dementia want, need and deserve personalised care. In a recent Alzheimer’s Society survey, when asked what would improve the lives of people living with dementia, 65% of respondents said more care workers who are skilled in caring for those with the condition.
For people with dementia and their families, being able to draw on care that is provided by well-trained staff significantly improves their day-to-day quality of life.
But in reality, this just isn’t possible in many cases, as Skills for Care recently revealed that just 29% of staff in England are recorded as having any form of dementia training. An untrained workforce means people are left without high-quality care that truly meets the specialist needs associated with dementia. This just isn’t good enough.
Alzheimer’s Society’s latest report: “Because we’re human too”: why dementia training for the care workforce matters and how to deliveri it clearly demonstrates the significant benefits of dementia training for people living with dementia and their unpaid carers, care staff, care providers and the wider system.
Looking at best practice examples of training, we see that this can lead to a reduction in the use of antipsychotic medication and physical restraints, whilst also helping to promote better quality relationships between the person living with dementia and care staff.
Our report also shows that implementing mandatory high-quality dementia training nationally for the care workforce is affordable. This would not only improve the lives of people with dementia, but also result in higher levels of job satisfaction within the workforce and reduced pressure on the wider system via a reduction in hospital and GP visits.
So how do we achieve this? How do we truly change the narrative for social care, and improve the lives of people living with dementia now and in the future? The Government must introduce a statutory duty for CQC registered providers to ensure care staff undertake high-quality, evidence-based dementia training, mapped to the Dementia Training Standards Framework,1 or equivalent.
The Government should also look at the bigger picture, rather than providing short-term solutions. A long-term workforce strategy that delivers roles for care staff at a fair rate of pay for the job they do, reduces staff turnover, and ensures there are sufficient staff to provide high quality care would prove beneficial to all who either work or draw upon the social care system. The workforce is at the heart of social care, so it’s high time that they are recognised as such and given the mechanisms they need to support people with dementia.
Retaining the status quo is no longer an option. Alzheimer’s Society’s overarching vision is ambitious, but achievable. We picture a world where people living with dementia can easily access high quality, affordable social care that meets their specialist needs, delivered by a well-trained workforce. A world where unpaid carers receive the statutory support they are entitled to, with access to dementia-specific respite care so they can look out for themselves as well as their loved ones.
I’m confident that we can achieve this. By investing in the sector and ensuring we focus our efforts in the right areas, together we can make significant progress to ensuring this vision becomes a reality.
@ alzheimerssoc
