New dementia framework for health & social care workers launches in Wales

Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport Vaughan Gething AM is today launching a new training resource that will help provide better, more consistent care and support for people with dementia in Wales.

‘Good Work: A Dementia Learning and Development Framework for Wales’ has been developed in partnership by the Care Council for Wales, NHS Wales, Public Health Wales and the Welsh Government in response to a public demand for a better, more consistent approach to caring for, and supporting, people with dementia.

The launch takes place at Ystrad Fawr Hospital, Hengoed, and will hear from Sue Evans, Chief Executive of the Care Council; Gavin Watkins, from Blaenau Gwent, who has dementia; and Vaughan Gething, Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport.

The new resource aims to change the way in which dementia care is provided in Wales by creating a single, shared vision for health and social care workers to provide the best possible care and support for those living with dementia. The framework has people with dementia at its heart and recognises that people with dementia, their families and carers should all be central to the care and support they receive.

The resource, which can be used to support training for those who work with people living with dementia, recognises the good practice in dementia care that is happening in Wales and aims to spread this good practice. It also stresses the importance of valuing the workforce.

The evidence-based resource is split into three sections. The first section is a generic, informed look at dementia and draws on much of the work of the Alzheimer’s Society’s Dementia Friends programme. The second section aims to improve the skills of those workers and covers all the areas of learning people might need to know and do. The third section is aimed at senior managers and commissioners, and recognises the impact that other people can have on people with dementia.

Vaughan Gething AM said: “I am delighted to be launching this new learning and development framework for dementia care in Wales. As a government, we are committed to developing an overarching dementia strategy and this framework will form a central part of Wales’s approach to supporting people with dementia.

“Our aim is to make sure that everyone in Wales with dementia, as well as their loved ones, receives high quality dementia care and support. This new training framework will help provide the health and social care workforce with the skills and knowledge it needs to effectively care for people with dementia.”

Sue Evans said:  “We know that a lack of dementia education and training is affecting the standards of dementia care in Wales and that a consistent approach to training the workforce is needed. We also know that good practice is happening in dementia care in Wales, but this is not happening everywhere.

“We have worked closely with the NHS and Welsh Government to develop this framework to make sure there is a consistent approach to dementia training throughout Wales, whether it be in social care, health or elsewhere, so that people living with dementia and their families receive the best possible dementia care no matter where they live.”

Lin Slater, Interim Director of Nursing, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, said: “As the needs of people change over time, it is important that we develop and adapt our practices effectively. The Good Work Dementia Framework will help us to give all our staff a better understanding of how to help people with dementia, putting the person at the centre of their care.

“It is more than a training framework because it brings into focus not only the essential skills for competent practice, but just as importantly compassionate practice.”

Victoria Franklin, Project Support, Nursing Quality and Allied Health Professionals Directorate at Public Health Wales, said: “Public Health Wales is proud to have worked collaboratively in the development of the Good Work Dementia Learning and Development Framework. There is a growing need for all staff working in health and social care to understand the specific issues that dementia care brings, and the implementation of this framework will ensure a consistent approach to dementia education and training.”

Gavin Watkins, a person using care and support services and living with dementia, said: “What we need to remember is that every single one of us is different and that means that we all need different treatment and support to help us live our lives the way we want.”

Get the framework from: http://www.ccwales.org.uk/dementia-care/