“The role of the non-clinical dementia specialist lead within a care home setting”
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Parallel 1
17 November, 2026 12:00 – 1:10 pmStaff Development in Care Homes
Dr Isabelle Latham is Researcher-in-Residence for Hallmark Care Homes and honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Association for Dementia Studies at the University of Worcester. She is the UK’s first researcher-in-residence within a care home organisation and supports Hallmark’s care homes to undertake research of importance to them in ways that include all members of their communities. She ensures research evidence is translated into practice change that positively impacts people’s day to day lives. Isabelle has 30 years’ experience in social care, starting as a care worker and including 15 years of research specialising in care homes, advanced dementia and education and training for frontline staff.
Summary
Since 2019, Hallmark Care Homes have utilised a role of “Dementia Care Manager” (DCM) in its English Care Homes. This role is non-clinical in nature, instead focussing on emotional and social well-being for residents living with dementia. In addition, it is a supernumerary role intended to support learning, coaching and development of frontline care staff to deliver high quality, relationship-centred care. After five years of operation, Hallmark undertook an extensive review of this role’s function, purpose and impact.
Using interview and care quality data from 15 care homes in England, this study identified discrepancies between the intention of the role and how it was operationalised in individual care homes, stemming from operational pressures. Significantly, there appears to be a correlation between how the role is utilised and the quality of dementia care delivered. This provides key learning for care homes about how to implement similar roles to facilitate higher quality care