The NHS in Scotland has introduced an innovative service to deliver healthy walks to people living with dementia to enable them to live as long as possible in their local community. Charity Pilgrim Care has employed nurse Cath Carter to deliver person-centred Healthy Walks in St Andrews one of which – Botanic Gardens group –…
Career move: Marking Carers Week in June, Tony Davidson Cowen told how he gave up his job to become a full-time carer for his mum Maureen (both pictured), who has Alzheimer’s. Tony, who had to move from Manchester to Melling in Lancashire, says there are good days and bad days. “Sometimes it helps to step…
At a lively conference in London in June, held to celebrate NAPA’s 25th year and national programme Arts in Care Homes, a wide variety of speakers shared ideas and experience of encouraging creativity and meaningful engagement in activity. Keynote speaker Jackie Pool, QCS Dementia Care Champion, focused attention on the words ‘meaningful’ and ‘engagement’, suggesting…
Over 1200 delegates from 120 countries attended the Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) Global Conference in London in June. For many delegates, it was a welcome return to in-person conferences, although around half of attendees were online as the event was offered in a hybrid format. Diverse international speakers delivered plenary sessions on the seven action…
Alzheimer’s Research UK (ARUK) has reiterated its call for a Dementia Medicines Taskforce as part of the government’s forthcoming 10-year dementia strategy. ARUK says the taskforce would act as a “necessary catalyst” for the development of dementia treatments, especially given historic under-investment in dementia research and the government’s failure so far to honour its “dementia…
Medical technology specialist Mdoloris has unveiled ANI Guardian, a bracelet designed to track the wellbeing and pain of those who cannot express it. As a wireless, wearable sensor, the bracelet provides continuous monitoring of the user and remotely shares data with caregivers, family and medics. It monitors tell-tale signs from the autonomous nervous system which…
For those wondering how to create an actively used garden for a care setting, a new handbook by seasoned garden writers Debbie Carroll and Mark Rendell may be the answer. A Designer’s Handbook for Creating Actively Used Care Setting Gardens is part of the writing duo’s “Why don’t we go into the garden” series and…
New data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) indicates that, of the 137,321 people who died from Covid-19 in England and Wales in 2020 and 2021, just over one in five (21.8%) had dementia. While dementia was the most common pre-existing condition in 2020, it was the third most common in 2021, behind diabetes…
Technology to help people stay independent in their own homes is the focus of a prize worth more than £4 million launching in September. The Longitude Prize on Dementia, announced by Alzheimer’s Society, Innovate UK and the Medical Research Council, is designed to incentivise the development of new assistive technologies. Overseen by Challenge Works, an…
An ingrained practice of “pad culture” in the management of incontinence on hospital wards is having a damaging impact on the dignity and independence of people with dementia, an in-depth study has found. Conducted by the University of West London’s Geller Institute of Ageing and Memory, the study of six wards in three hospitals identified…