Education and training
Our aims
There are eight delivery goals related to education and training. We’re working with partners to:
- Support the provision of mandatory dementia training
- Undertake a training needs analysis to identify and address gaps
- Scope and identify specific locality, sector and project training needs
- Promote education related to brain health, dementia, prevention, and wellbeing
- Commission dementia and brain health training
- Promote and share a broad range of Dementia United training resources
- Promote training for carers and people with lived experience
- Support person centred responses to distressed behaviours and complex needs
We’re developing an education and training network for everyone affected by dementia in Greater Manchester. This includes people living with dementia and carers, health and social care practitioners, voluntary community and social enterprise groups, and research partners. If you would like to join this network, please email k.thakuria1@nhs.net
Why this matters
More than half of the UK public know someone who has been diagnosed with dementia (Alzheimer’s Research UK, 2021). We need to ensure that everyone in Greater Manchester understands dementia with the right education and training being provided across communities.
We know that most people receiving home care services or who live in care homes have cognitive impairment or dementia. It’s therefore vital that staff in these services understand how to support people living with dementia.
With the right skills and knowledge, staff can provide a good quality of life at every stage of the condition, allowing people living with dementia to remain active and engaged, for as long as possible (Skills for Care, 2023).
To achieve our ambition to make Greater Manchester the best place to live for those affected by dementia it’s vital that everyone across our communities can access the right level of education and training.
What we’ve achieved
We collated information on training currently available for people affected by dementia in Greater Manchester, including people living with dementia, carers, and staff. This has recently been updated: Dementia Training December 2023 V2.0 We’ll continue to develop this so please share any relevant training by emailing us at: gmhscp.dementiaunited@nhs.net
Our Greater Manchester Dementia Care Pathway includes training resources for all areas of the pathway. We’re in the process of updating this resource. We’ve also developed many training resources, including:
- Delirium where we have produced the Greater Manchester Community Delirium Toolkit and the Greater Manchester Hospital Delirium Toolkit and associated training resources.
- End of life care
- Mild Cognitive Impairment link. We part fund Manchester Neurology Academy’s mild cognitive impairment course, which has been delivered since 2021. For more information on the current course please see https://neurologyacademy.org/events/course/mild-cognitive-impairment-virtual-course-2023
- LGBTQ+. We recently commissioned the LGBT foundation to deliver training and with partners have set up the Greater Manchester LGBTQ+ online dementia support group
- Trafford and Wigan councils, Dementia United and GreaterSport funded a of piece of work to enable Made by Mortals and Together Dementia Support to develop an immersive training experience that was co-produced and shaped by people living with dementia and their care partners. You can find out more about this resource here
What’s next?
This project is part of our Dementia and Brain Health Delivery Plan 2023 to 2025. We’re working closely with our Lived Experience Group, the Dementia Carers Expert Reference Group and partners across Greater Manchester to take this work forward.
We are mapping the dementia training currently available in Greater Manchester and will publish this information as soon as possible.
We have over 30 members in this group with representation from across the system. You can find out more about our Lived Experience Group here
You can find out more about our Dementia Carers Expert Reference Group her
If you would like further information or to get involved with this project, please email gmhscp.dementiaunited@nhs.net and we will direct you to the relevant project manager.