The pioneering approach to specialist dementia care at HC-One Meadow Bank care home in Preston has yielded promising results, according to recently released data.
‘Sabrina’, Meadow Bank’s Specialist Dementia Care Community (SDCC), aims to become a national model, reshaping dementia care and easing pressure on NHS and social care services.
This is particularly pertinent given the anticipated increase in the prevalence of dementia. The number of people living with dementia in England is expected to increase by 108% to 1,351,000 by 2040 (up from 651,000 in 2015). The number of people living with severe dementia is expected to rise by 199% to 909,000 by 2040 (up from 303,000 in 2015).
The SDCC differs from a traditional nursing dementia community, with the team providing specialist care to residents who are emotionally distressed by their dementia.
Meadow Bank’s recent data highlighted that:
- 90% decrease in distress-related incidents
- 60% of residents showing improvement in ‘Primary Behaviours of Concern’
- 88% of residents improved their ‘Total Complexity of Need Profile’
The Sabrina community has an above average staffing ratio and the community’s team comprises of Assistant Psychologists who analyse behaviour to understand the reasons for a person’s distress and a team of Therapeutic Wellbeing Practitioners, who engage with the residents and help enable them to partake in their favourite pastimes – be that watching football or listening to music.
Sabrina also provides therapy and sensory areas, as well as activity rooms and a lovely garden. The community has been designed to feel like a ‘home from home’. Relatives are actively welcomed in the communal spaces which include a cinema room and tearoom. This enables families to enjoy time with their loved ones in peaceful and homely settings.
Insight from residents’ loved ones forms a significant part of residents’ bespoke care plans. This insight helps inform the specialist tailored care that Sabrina’s residents receive. Relatives are actively encouraged to help personalise their loved one’s room to reflect the resident’s former home life.
Professor Graham Stokes, Director of Dementia & Specialist Service Innovation at HC-One, said:
“We’re really encouraged by the results that we are seeing for our residents at Meadow Bank’s SDCC. The difference between a standard residential dementia care setting and a specialist dementia unit is that the former asks ‘what’ – what is wrong with this person, what can’t they do, what have they started to do – and our specialist dementia unit asks ‘why’ – why is this person feeling this way, acting in this manner, experiencing life in this way?
“What we are seeing at Meadow Bank shows that this specialist approach really supports our team to work therapeutically with residents in our SDCC. We are excited to do more, and introduce further SDCCs to the sector, starting with our next one which is due to open in Scotland this summer.”
Anne-Marie Potter, Specialist Dementia Service Lead at HC-One’s Meadow Bank Care Home, stated:
“We aim to provide a ‘home from home’ for our residents and their families and we are delighted with the initial data findings. The team is continually evolving its approach to ensure that these promising results continue. We are delighted that our Sabrina SDCC therapeutic community is leading the way in specialist dementia care.”
Julie Banks, a relative of a resident at HC-One’s Meadow Bank Care Home SDCC, commented:
“We are delighted with the service provided by the team at Sabrina. The community has been our saving grace. Sabrina has succeeded in providing exemplary care where others have failed. From our first visit, we knew we had made the right choice – communities such as Sabrina are needed everywhere.”
