Dementia awareness training as a single strategy will not improve dementia care in hospitals or outcomes for patients, according to new research from the University of Hertfordshire.

The research, funded by the Alzheimer’s Society, was published in the online journal BMJ Open and reviewed approaches to make hospital environments more dementia friendly.  The report found that, in addition to dementia awareness training, it is important for senior team members with specific expertise in dementia care to work closely with hospital staff to support the continued development of skills in this area and promote their use among patients.

Greater recognition of the changes to staff roles and responsibilities when caring for patients with dementia, and a flexible approach, that can accommodate the known limitations of ward routines, is also necessary to meet the needs of patients with dementia.
Changes must be endorsed by senior management, to give staff permission and confidence to adapt practices to provide good dementia care.

The report also found that strategies to help staff understand behaviour that challenges them can encourage staff to take action to help reduce distress, as well as enable patients to be more independent.

Melanie Handley, Lead Author of the report, said: “Our findings suggest that training as a single strategy is not enough to influence staff to adapt the care they provide for people living with dementia, to meet their needs. Rather, we have highlighted six propositions which can run alongside one another to help deliver comprehensive care and positive patient outcomes.

“Importantly, managerial endorsement for staff to work flexibly within their role, utilising practices and resources that enable them to get to know the person, will help staff to recognise and address signs of distress and implement best practice in dementia care.

“We also found the need for access to experts in dementia care who can advise and encourage staff to provide good care for people living with dementia.”

Dr Doug Brown, Director of Research at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “An Alzheimer’s Society investigation in 2016 found that only 2% of people affected by dementia felt, in their experience, that all hospital staff understood the specific needs of people with dementia.

“The findings from this study show that better support from senior colleagues with dementia expertise can help staff to put training into practice and ultimately deliver better outcomes for people with dementia. The next step, and where this will truly make a difference for people affected by dementia, is to get hospitals across the country to commit to providing appropriate dementia training for all staff and senior dementia specialists within hospital trusts. We hope to achieve this through Dementia Action Alliance Dementia-Friendly Hospital Charter, which already has over 100 hospitals signed up.”

www.herts.ac.uk