“Engaging Dementia are excited to announce their 15th International Dementia Conference will take place at the earlier date of 25th and 26th of May this year, and will be held online via Zoom.

It will feature over 20 speakers across two days, with a particular focus on topics of direct interest to those living with dementia.

Day One: Looking at dementia inclusive community services, resources for family carers, and receiving care in your own home.

Day Two: Discussing the services for those in residential care settings, and the latest ideas and innovations to improve long term care services.

General admission and student tickets are available now on their website, starting at just €20.

Additionally, free tickets are available for all persons living with dementia and their family carers with thanks to sponsor Home Instead.

Visit www.engagingdementia.ie for more information.”

“Material Citizenship, a new approach to dementia care, uses objects used to carry out tasks (such as a mobile phone or curling tongs) as a mechanism for improving the care experience for care home staff and people living with dementia in care homes. It does so by:

• Encouraging care home staff to include personal possessions in care plans
• Support use of personal possessions to maintain routines and rituals
• Enable people living with dementia to carry out everyday tasks, supporting them to the live the life they want to live

According to one care home manager, taking a Material Citizenship approach has transformed how they provide care.

They have seen an improvement in the wellbeing of residents and increased confidence in staff who attended the training. Care home staff are now supporting people living with dementia to engage in meaningful activities such as delivering newspapers, baking bread and polishing their own rooms – with the polish they like. It has also had a more fundamental impact on the care practices of a  care home.  In one care home the manager gave an example of how it has changed the culture in the care home. Prior to introducing Material Citizenship catering staff worked certain times of the day and food was restricted to set meal times. This has changed and catering staff are now available to support residents in meal choices and meal times that suit them.  It was also reported that prior to Material Citizenship, time restrictions of when people should leave the care home and return to the care home were in place. Residents no longer need to be back at certain times, they have more freedom to come and go as they wish, something noted by an external healthcare professional as being wonderful.”

Click here  to see Dr Kellyn Lee (Visiting Fellow, School of Health Sciences, University of Southampton) explain how it works

For more information on Material Citizenship contact: info@materialcitizenship.com

Material Citizenship, a new approach to dementia care, uses objects used to carry out tasks (such as a mobile phone or curling tongs) as a mechanism for improving the care experience for care home staff and people living with dementia in care homes. It does so by:

• Encouraging care home staff to include personal possessions in care plans
• Support use of personal possessions to maintain routines and rituals
• Enable people living with dementia to carry out everyday tasks, supporting them to the live the life they want to live

According to one care home manager, taking a Material Citizenship approach has transformed how they provide care.

They have seen an improvement in the wellbeing of residents and increased confidence in staff who attended the training. Care home staff are now supporting people living with dementia to engage in meaningful activities such as delivering newspapers, baking bread and polishing their own rooms – with the polish they like. It has also had a more fundamental impact on the care practices of a  care home.  In one care home the manager gave an example of how it has changed the culture in the care home. Prior to introducing Material Citizenship catering staff worked certain times of the day and food was restricted to set meal times. This has changed and catering staff are now available to support residents in meal choices and meal times that suit them.  It was also reported that prior to Material Citizenship, time restrictions of when people should leave the care home and return to the care home were in place. Residents no longer need to be back at certain times, they have more freedom to come and go as they wish, something noted by an external healthcare professional as being wonderful.

To hear Dr Kellyn Lee (Visiting Fellow, School of Health Sciences, University of Southampton) explain how it works click here

“The most exciting development for Alzheimer’s research in recent months has been the CLARITY-AD study results. CLARITY-AD has been investigating the drug lecanemab, which is the first drug to slow cognitive decline in people with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.

Join Dementia Research volunteers helped to make these findings possible by taking part in the UK clinical trials. Regulatory approval is now being sought for the drug to be prescribed in the US and Europe.

Some of the many studies currently recruiting through Join Dementia Research include:

• A study investigating the impact of anti-inflammatory drugs on Alzheimer’s disease
• A NIHR-funded study looking at the benefits of singing for people with dementia

The Join Dementia Research service now has 60,000 volunteers signed up to take part in research. This is really positive, but we always need more people to join us to help make research breakthroughs possible. So please encourage your residents and their families and friends to sign up for Join Dementia Research.”

“Back for 2022 Adam Smith is hosting a  12+ hour non-stop livestream discussion with over 60 researchers and special guests, working across all areas of discovery to beat Alzheimer’s disease and all forms of dementia. Raising money for four great research charities and providing insights into the latest research taking place across the UK and Worldwide.

Aimed at anyone with an interest in dementia (including healthcare professionals, clinicians, researchers, people living with dementia and their families). Adam will be interviewing researchers in small groups throughout the day, covering everything from prevention, diagnosis, the latest treatments, improvements in care and everything in between – a link to the stream, a full list of guests and a schedule can be found at www.chatathon.uk.

The event will be streamed free of charge on YouTube, allowing you to drop-in and out, or stay the whole day.

The charities that will benefit from any donations / sponsorship are Alzheimer’s Research UK, Alzheimer’s Society, Race Against Dementia & The Lewy Body Society – every £1 counts to fund more vital research. You can donate at www.chatathon.uk

Hear Adam discuss the event here – https://youtu.be/mlLpRGfAyU0

If you have any questions, contact adam.smith@ucl.ac.uk

“Senior Research Fellowship

Senior Research Fellowships are designed to retain excellent clinical and non-clinical researchers who have a track record of nationally competitive research, and clear plans to manage their own independent research group and become internationally recognised within the field of biomedical dementia research.

Grant amount: Up to £420,000

Grant deadline: 25 January 2023

The Major project grant scheme provides funds for intermediate to large scale research projects.

Grant deadline: 25 January 2023

Early Career Researcher Bridge Fund

This scheme aims to enable the retention of early career researchers in dementia research or to address particular pinch points in their career path.

Grant amount: Up to £30,000

Grant deadline:  18 November 2022″

For more details click here

“With millions of us living longer with ever-increasing care needs, providing effective care for older people living in nursing homes is now more important than ever.

An estimated 361,000 people live in UK care homes, with this figure expected to rise in line with an ageing population.

Research is a key driver in the continuous improvement of health and social care services, including providing dignified end-of-life care for care home residents, many of whom are living with dementia. But how can we champion and facilitate research in what can be a challenging care environment?”

To learn more about how the NIHR intend to engage with care homes to carry out research click here for the full blog.

“Residents’ quality of life is better in care homes rated as good or outstanding by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Research found that their quality of life is better in fully-staffed homes, and where staff have better pay and training.

Care providers are obliged to nurture residents’ quality of life, but there is no standard way of measuring quality of life in care homes. The CQC rates whether homes are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led. But before this study, it was not known whether CQC ratings were a good reflection of residents’ quality of life. It was also not known whether staff numbers, pay and training were linked to CQC ratings. This is important because care workers often have poor pay and little training beyond basic induction training. Staff shortages, which increase time pressures, are common.

Staff need the right tools to gather information about residents’ health and quality of life. Many care home residents have dementia and may find it difficult to tell staff how they are feeling. In the first part of this study, the research team worked with staff, residents and families to develop tools to help care home staff identify pain, anxiety and low mood in residents. These tools are suitable for residents with dementia and those with communication difficulties; staff do not need clinical training to use them.

The study also found that better CQC ratings were linked with higher quality of life among the residents who need most help. Caring and well-led services made a measurable difference, especially for residents who rely on staff to meet their basic needs. Better pay and training for staff were linked to higher CQC ratings. A 10% wage increase was linked to a 7% higher chance of a care home being rated as good or outstanding.

Together, the findings show the link between working conditions, care quality and residents’ quality of life. The researchers say that policies to improve working conditions for staff are essential to improve outcomes for people living in care homes.”

If you would like to read more about this study click here.

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‘Call for Research Proposals – Dementia

As part of the NIHR Three Schools’ Dementia Research Programme, we are inviting proposals for research projects to address priorities for improving the lives of people living with or at risk of dementia, family and other carers.

We are seeking innovative, original, high-quality proposals which represent good value for money. Although this is an open call, we would particularly welcome proposals:

• focusing on post-diagnostic support and/or end-of-life care
• that explore equality, diversity and inclusion issues in dementia prevention, care and support, including in relation to the ‘oldest old’ and people with multiple long-term conditions
• where research will be carried out in localities that are not so well engaged in dementia studies.

Through this call, we are also seeking to encourage new and developing dementia researchers to lead studies, as well as proposals led by practice researchers, professionals (including managers and commissioners), and people living with dementia and/or carers.

Funding of up to £200,000 is available for projects between January 2023 and March 2024.

This is a one-stage call for proposals. Proposals must be submitted by 16.30 on Wednesday 7 September 2022.’

For more information click on this website: 

How will dementia care develop and transform in the future? – be part of the conversation at Care Roadshows London as our brilliant panellists dive deep into the crucial challenges of dementia care 💚

Join the discussion with:

Jackie Pool, Dementia Care Champion at Quality Compliance Systems

Dr Kellyn Lee 💚, CEO and Founder of WISER Health and Social Care and Visiting Researcher at the University of Southampton

Dr Rosie Mead, CEO of Musica Music and Wellbeing CIC

Nula Suchet, Author of – The Longest Farewell: James, Dementia and Me

Rishi Jawaheer, Director of The Jawa Group, Namaste Care International & CareVision CMS.

Date: Tuesday 18th October 2022

Venue: Epsom Downs Racecourse

To register for your free ticket click here