An estimated 850,000 people in the UK are living with dementia, both diagnosed and undiagnosed, with around 670,000 people acting as their primary carers. Almost two-thirds (62%) of dementia sufferers have Alzheimer’s disease.
These figures are set to rise dramatically over the coming years as the UK’s population ages. Recently published research by the Alzheimer’s Society puts the likely number of people with dementia at more than one million by 2021.
With current costs reaching £26.3bn – or £32,250 per person per year – when social care, health care and unpaid carers are taken into account, it’s no wonder that the prime minister, in launching his Challenge on Dementia 2020, described it as “a national crisis”.
Dealing with the growing number of dementia cases is a priority for both health and social care organisations and Skills for Health is supporting the development of a workforce with the knowledge and skills that will be required to care for people.
Skills for Health, together with Health Education England and Skills for Care, has launched the Dementia Core Skills Education and Training Framework (pdf), which seeks to support the better integration of health and social care dementia services.
Addressing these as one will help to better serve both the public purse and patients by investing in the workforce and offering them a core set of transferable competencies they need to serve dementia sufferers.
The success of this innovative framework will be seen by its use in practice to ensure that people living with dementia receive the best quality care from those who have had appropriate education and training.
John Rogers, chief executive of Skills for Health, says: “This framework will ensure more effective commissioning of education and will help to prevent unnecessary duplication of training by setting out the core skills and knowledge that are transferable and applicable across different areas of service provision.”
Not only will the framework be rolled out for those working with people affected by dementia, it will also be used to monitor its own success.
“The framework will serve as a medium through which the impact of education and training can be measured in terms of positive outcomes for people living with dementia, their families and carers. We believe that use of the framework will result in an increased quality of care for people living with dementia and their families,” he added.
With only 44% of people with dementia in England, Wales and Northern Ireland currently receiving a diagnosis, some aspects of the framework include dementia awareness, identification, assessment and diagnosis. It also looks at risk reduction and prevention.
The framework is intended to increase productivity in teams by covering core knowledge and skills required by any people who come into contact with those affected by dementia.
It covers issues such as pharmacological interventions, health and wellbeing, evidence-based practice and law and ethics in dementia care. It also includes knowledge and skills for those in leadership roles.
Pivotal to the framework is person-centred dementia care, which seeks to understand the person with dementia as an individual.
Through using the framework, those who acquire these invaluable skills should be more aware of building relationships with people with dementia and their family carers, ensuring the person is an equal partner in their health and care.
Christine Mullen, Skills for Health associate, says the framework has some invaluable applications for those dealing with dementia patients at every level: “It does not mean people are more busy but that you are making more productive use of your workforce. It makes sense to better align health, social and voluntary services and it enables staff to broaden their portfolios.”
To find out more about how the Skills for Health Dementia Core Skills Education and Training Framework can help train and promote an integrated interdisciplinary workforce visit the Skills for Health website or email Colin Wright, skills framework manager at Skills for Health: colin.wright@skillsforhealth.org.uk.
Content on this page is produced and paid for by Skills for Health, sponsor of the Guardian Healthcare Professionals Network’s workforce development hub
