Protected: Six high impact changes to support people with dementia in hospitals 

We found six key changes that improved care.

Stress and distress for people with dementia can be prevented or managed through improved person-centred planning. Our improvement work considered ways to improve support for people with dementia in hospitals.

Ensure all staff feel competent and supported

All staff should feel competent and supported to use person-centred approaches. This may include: 

  • nursing staff 
  • allied health professionals 
  • healthcare support workers 
  • medical staff 
  • psychology staff, and 
  • any other ward staff. 

Work as a team to ensure staff members in all roles feel supported. 

Gather person-centred information

Introduce processes to collect person-centred information for new patients.

Resources are available to support collecting information.

Involve carers in collecting person-centred information

Develop processes to involve family, friends and carers when collecting person-centred information.

Ensure information is collected at a time and in a way that suits carers.

Develop person-centred care plans 

Create plans to use the person-centred information gathered. The information can be used as part of:

  • care plans
  • day to day care
  • interactions

Consider involving a range of specialities when developing a plan. This may include nursing staff, AHPs and others.

Provide meaningful activity to support the prevention and management of stress and distress

Everyone can contribute to personalised activity. Meaningful activity can support the prevention and management of stress and distress.

Person-centred care plans can be used to plan activities for each individual. Consider introducing meaningful activity during activities of daily living, including personal care and mealtimes.

Measure the difference you are making

Collect data to show whether changes are:

  • happening reliably, and
  • having an impact on patient outcomes including levels of stress and distress.

Useful measures for person-centred care planning improvements include:

  • percentage of patients who have a person-centred care plan in place
  • percentage of patients who have meaningful activities recorded within their care plan daily

If your data indicates that your change has led to an improvement, consider how to sustain and spread your changes.

Share your learning

Share your learning across your hospital, NHS board and beyond. Please contact us at his.focusondementia@nhs.scot to share your improvement journey. 

Resources to support your improvements