Dementia is now officially the biggest cause of death in the UK, taking more people than either cancer and heart failure.
With that statistic very much in mind, we are now extending our support for people living with the condition.
Around 12 per cent of all referrals to our community team now have a diagnosis of dementia, though the primary reason for referral may not be dementia but another condition.
And as a result, Project ECHO has created a programme for care home staff focusing on end of life, helping to distinguish dementia from delirium, depression and anxiety improving quality of life, managing distressed behaviours and supporting with end of life care and advanced care planning.
Project ECHO is the online tele-mentoring network, headed by St Luke’s, which brings health and care organisations together via video link, to form an online community, share best practice and offer support.
Project ECHO was commissioned by Skills for Care to deliver the National Dementia Training Standards Tier Two framework training to Adult Health and Social Care across South Yorkshire, a programme that began in September 2023 and completed earlier this year.
At the heart of the scheme is St Luke's Project ECHO Lead Nurse Lynne Ghasemi, who provides support for care homes across Sheffield and has, as a consequence, become increasingly aware of the palliative care needs of people living with dementia and the importance of recognising the condition and its impact.
“Through offering clinical support to people living within care homes, it has become very much evident that people with dementia have a life limiting illness,” said Lynne, who is also part of the Sheffield Dementia Strategy Group, the body working together to make sure people with dementia in Sheffield are supported to live life to their full potential.
“At St Luke’s and across the city we are very keen that people living with dementia get the same level of support received by people living with other life limiting illnesses” she said.
St Luke’s has registered on the National Alzheimer’s Society Website and there have been talks with the Regional Manager for the Alzheimer’s Society regarding hosting a local dementia support group at St Luke’s Ecclesall Road South Site.
Other dementia-related activities have included reminiscence and life story work, which is being made available by the Occupational Therapy department at the hospice.
And our whole environment is being reviewed to see how it can be made more cognitive impairment friendly.
“Through Project ECHO we have delivered a number of education programmes over the past few years, all aimed at supporting people living with dementia,” Lynne said.
“I feel this work, which is entirely self-funded by Project ECHO, is incredibly important.
“People living with dementia need support as early as possible so they can express their own wishes and their own thoughts about care for the future and to be able to plan for the future.”