Greater Manchester’s Dementia Care Pathway

 

You can access the Dementia Care Pathway  here Greater Manchester’s Dementia Care Pathway (gmdementiaresources.org.uk)

Following consultation with stakeholders, including people with lived experience, Dementia United’s dementia pathway website is under review.  We are exploring options for a new website of local resources and will update as soon as possible. The current dementia pathway website will not be updated whilst this review is taking place but there is a huge amount of information available on the pathway. If you would like further information, please contact k.thakuria1@nhs.net.

The Dementia Care Pathway is part of our post-diagnostic programme. This programme also includes: The Dementia Wellbeing Plan and the Dementia Care Navigation Standard

The Dementia Care Pathway has been developed by the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Programme through its Dementia Programme (Dementia United) as part of an Integrated Care System. Dementia United worked with people living with dementia, their care partners, and professionals in Greater Manchester to find out what matters to them and to use this information to co-produce a set of 75 dementia quality standards.

These quality standards provide information and resources for all stages of the dementia journey, from looking after the health of your brain, receiving, and managing a diagnosis, staying connected within your local community, to what to expect from end-of-life care and much more. Each standard includes information on how to access support and services across Greater Manchester and nationally, as well as evidence as to why the standard is important and examples of best practice showing how it has been successfully implemented.

A digital presentation for the Dementia Care Pathway was needed as the information it contained was too long and complex to easily navigate in other forms. It contains information which may not be relevant to every user therefore some way to allow for searching was also desirable. Dementia United in partnership with Health Innovation Manchester  commissioned Radical to develop the digital version of the Dementia Care Pathway.

Training resources

We have provided some training resources designed so you can use these, to help gain an understanding of what the Dementia Care Pathway has to offer. You are very welcome to use these resources when sharing and promoting the Dementia Care Pathway

• The link provided here Dementia United’s train the trainer webinar on the Greater Manchester dementia care pathway – YouTube is to a recorded presentation over Microsoft Teams, in which we explain what the Dementia Care Pathway is, what value it can bring, along with examples of how to use the Pathway if you are supporting someone affected by dementia
• The link provided is to a PowerPoint presentation that can support any training you may want to deliver on the Dementia Care Pathway; we talk through these slides as part of the recording as mentioned above: Train The Trainer Greater Manchester Dementia Care Pathway
• This link  takes you to a more detailed explanation of the Pathway that can be read and used alongside the training PowerPoint and recording above: Greater Manchester Dementia Pathway. Train the trainer supplementary materials. FINAL

Where will I find the Dementia Care Pathway?

You can access the Dementia Care Pathway via link here Greater Manchester’s Dementia Care Pathway (gmdementiaresources.org.uk)

You can also access the Pathway via the link in this flyer Greater Manchester Dementia Care Pathway March 2023

Who is the Dementia Care Pathway for?

Whether you’re a member of the public looking for local support and information for yourself or a loved one, a commissioner looking for best practice guidance on how to support people in your community, or work in health and social care and are looking for the evidence behind different interventions, you’ll find it in our dementia care pathway.

Why we’ve created the Dementia Care Pathway?

We know from speaking with people affected by dementia of the difficulties people experience in accessing support after diagnosis.

Many of these issues are highlighted in The Alzheimer’s Society (2020) report accessible via the web link here pathway_report_full_final.pdf (alzheimers.org.uk). The report noted that the main issues for people at the supporting well stage of the Pathway were:

• Information provided at the point of diagnosis is not being delivered in the right way, if at all.
• People are struggling to access a care coordinator. This could significantly help people navigate the complexity of the health and social care system to get the right care and support.
• Care planning, including advance care planning, if undertaken, can be insufficient and dementia-specific needs are not considered. This is made worse by a lack of integration of care and support plans.
• The provision of post-diagnostic support interventions – those that exist from national guidance and based on clinical evidence – can be variable and inappropriate.

Two Greater Manchester focused reports both highlighted similar themes to those highlighted by the Alzheimer’s Society in 2020.

• TIDE – Together In Dementia Everyday – A fragmented pathway by Shahid Mohammed
• NHS Long Term Plan: The Patients Journey in Dementia Services: Healthwatch in Greater Manchester

We understand therefore that finding the correct information to support you and your loved ones to live well at all stages of the dementia journey has been repeatedly highlighted as a particular challenge, the pathway has been developed to address this issue.

Who developed the Dementia Care Pathway?

Work on the Dementia Care Pathway has been ongoing since 2018, as Dementia United brought together commissioners, providers, care partners, and people with lived experience to focus on what good practice and support should be available across Greater Manchester.

In 2020, 130 people affected by dementia, all contributed to the priorities underpinning the standards in the Dementia Care Pathway. With Localities hosting feedback events and a Dementia United online survey. This report Dementia Care Pathway feedback Report April 2021outlines the feedback we received from people affected by dementia.

In February and March 2022, Dementia United hosted user testing workshops; where 67 participants all fed back on the digital version of the Dementia Care Pathway. The participants from these workshops were: people with lived experience, voluntary sector groups, dementia advisors, housing providers, public health, doctors, commissioners, mental health staff and allied health professionals. Online feedback from staff who attended the digital testing workshops:

Thank you for all your hard work, it really will be a helpful resource for people living with dementia  and their support circles as well as professionals

Really impressed with everything and looking forward to exploring the webpage further

If you’d like more information or have any feedback for us you can contact us via our email gmhscp.dementiaunited@nhs.net