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Councillors at today’s Social Work and Health Committee were briefed on the achievements in dementia care led by Fife Council’s Social Work Services.
The work to date, all contributes to the Fife-wide Dementia Strategy – a multi-agency approach to improving and developing dementia services in Fife.
Rona Laing, Acting Head of Older People’s Services explained the Social Work Service contribution to dementia care services: “A huge volume of work has been undertaken to date including the establishment within our own residential and day care services of a ‘Good Practice with Dementia’ Group. The focus of the group has been to build on the knowledge and skills of staff working with people with dementia – and their hard work and innovative practice was acknowledged recently through being short listed for the National Dementia UK Awards. The group has used new techniques such as doll therapy, life story books and talking mats to support and facilitate communications.
“Other developments have included the publication of a Design and Dementia Audit Toolkit – a reference point to make sure that any new build or refurbishment programmes take account of design principles that are appropriate and supportive of people with dementia – and, the roll out of training courses and learning forums.”
Councillor Tim Brett, Chair of the Social Work and Health Committee added: “With more people expected to be affected by dementia in the future I am pleased that Fife is leading the way in developing its staff to help support people and to improve the care for individuals.”
- Currently in Fife there is an estimated 5,700 people with dementia
- Approx 63% of these people live in their own home, while 36.5% live in long-term care
- Based on demographic predictions by 2030 it is estimated that 11,000 people in Fife will be affected by dementia
