Education and training

A female stands at a flip chart with a pen in her hand, looking at other people sat round looking at the flip chart.

Design, develop and facilitate education and training across all sectors

Our aims

The initial aims of the project were to scope the provision of dementia training, identify gaps in the training offer, and promote training already available. Now this has been achieved, the focus will be on sharing best practice and resources across Greater Manchester organisations to further develop the dementia training offer. This will be supported by the development of a dementia education and training network.

Dementia United will continue to advocate for dementia awareness training to be mandatory within all Greater Manchester health and social care organisations, with additional training provided for practitioners who work directly with people living with dementia.

Training for people living with dementia and unpaid carers has been explored within Dementia United’s improving the quality and experience of diagnosis work. We will continue to promote the need for training for people affected by dementia as part of a post-diagnostic support offer.

This project included a particular focus on supporting person centred responses to distressed behaviours and complex needs, and information about support available in Greater Manchester has been collated. Dementia United will continue to work with partners to explore options for additional training in this area.

Why this matters

To ensure the best possible outcomes for individuals, their loved ones, and for the wider system, we need to ensure that everyone in Greater Manchester understands dementia, with additional training provided for those in the health and social care system who work directly with people living with dementia.

People living with dementia will access multiple points of the health and social care system. It’s estimated that 70 per cent of people in care homes have dementia or severe memory problems, and that 60 per cent of people who draw on support from homecare are people living with dementia.[1]. NICE also report that 1 in 4 hospital beds are occupied by people living with dementia. People with dementia often experience longer hospital stays, delays in leaving in hospital and reduced independent living[2].

A recent study outlines that “care for people with dementia requires highly accomplished care practitioners with specialised knowledge and skills within dementia care. The care needs of people with dementia varies over time, from day to day and even during the course of a day; consequently, constant adjustments are needed to provide optimal care”^[3].

We know that training is required to support all practitioners to understand dementia and most effectively meet the needs of people affected by dementia.

What we’ve achieved

We’ve mapped dementia training across Greater Manchester organisations and this work has now been published: Greater Manchester Dementia Education and Training for Practitioners. This report also includes information about tailoring training to your workforce and suggestions of what to consider when choosing external dementia training packages. Information about the dementia training standards framework and mapping existing training against these standards is provided.

The nationally developed dementia e-learning programme is available to all health, social care, care and hospice practitioners, and guidance on accessing this training is also included in the Greater Manchester dementia education and training for practitioners report.

We’ve also collated information about available support for people living with dementia who experience distress and will be sharing this as soon as possible. You can also find relevant national resources in this document

We’ve also developed guidance for staff who are supporting people on continuous observations and a template document which will be shared as soon as possible. This will be available for use by any organisation and we would be grateful for any feedback you can provide by emailing gmhscp.dementiaunited@nhs.net.

We’ve updated our collated information on training currently available for people affected by dementia in Greater Manchester. This updated document replaces the previous documents that was published in April 2024. Dementia Training – September 2024 V.10

What’s next?

We’ll continue to advocate for dementia awareness training to be mandatory within all organisations, with additional training provided for practitioners directly supporting people living with dementia. We’re working with partners to explore options for additional training to be provided in Greater Manchester.

We’ll continue to promote the need for training for people affected by dementia as part of a post-diagnostic support offer.

We’ll be sharing information about available support for people living with dementia who experience distress, as well as guidance for staff supporting continuous observations, as soon as possible. These documents will be published here.

We’re starting quarterly meetings for the Dementia Education and Training network, with a focus on sharing resources and best practice across organisations and sectors. The meetings will take place via Teams 10am to 12noon and upcoming dates are 26^th June 2024, 25^th September 2024, and 29^th January 2025. Please email gmhscp.dementiaunited@nhs.net for a meeting link.

We’ll continue to update information about available dementia training on a regular basis. Please share any relevant training to include in a future update by emailing us at gmhscp.dementiaunited@nhs.net.