You can’t be person-centred without being culturally inclusive, and you can’t be culturally inclusive without being person-centred. The two go hand in hand.
Dr Karan Jutlla, Head of the Centre for Applied and Inclusive Health Research and Dementia Lead, University of Wolverhampton, opened her address with this statement, and went on to give telling examples showing that a compassionate, person-led approach will always be more important than, for example, matching the cultures of care worker and client. Being from the same cultural background is no guarantee of sympathy and understanding—the support worker may be judgemental of the family member’s care, or of the person with dementia (for drinking alcohol, for example).
Cultural competence is the key, she said: “It involves more than having an awareness of cultural norms and defeating language barriers… It requires ‘cultural humility’ [that] reflects on cultural biases and stereotypes through appropriate training an education.”
Dr Jutlla was speaking at the Dementia Summit conference ‘It’s time to talk about dementia’ held in London in September 2024.
In an afternoon session on young onset dementia, Philip Angrave, a retired nurse lecturer with lived experience of dementia, told a moving personal story of his developing condition and diagnosis. Dr Janet Carter, Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist, North East London NHS Trust then spoke on ‘Improving awareness, practice and support for people with young onset dementia’. She emphasised the vital importance of access to specialist investigations at an early stage, and the need for ongoing tailored and age-appropriate support services for people and their families. The Young Dementia Network’s national ambition includes calls for progress in these areas, plus the need to raise public awareness to foster a more supportive environment. A lack of reliable data and targets made it hard to even define the challenge and argue for services, she said, concluding with an urgent call to NHS England to improve these.