Dementia Care Forum

A high proportion of The Fremantle Trust’s services are provided to people with a dementia and Fremantle prides itself on its level of advanced practice and the high levels of training it gives to its staff. As a response to the Government’s National Dementia Care Strategy; 'Living Well with Dementia', it is keen to help promote best practice, not only in its own homes but throughout Buckinghamshire.

Towards the end of 2009 The Fremantle Trust set up the Dementia Care Forum for home managers and senior staff from any homes in the County.

The purpose of the Forum is to provide an opportunity for care home managers, and any other interested people, to network, to discuss current issues that affect the delivery of care and support to people with dementia, to discuss difficulties and hopefully to provide and receive support as well as providing a forum for people to discuss the positive aspects of their services.

The Forum is hosted by Gloria Haynes and meets three or four times a year.  Guest speakers present on various topics of interest to dementia care practice. 

2012 Meeting Dates, watch site for topics

Dementia care forum dates set (March 29th, June 28th, September 13th and December 13th) 

To Participate

If you would like to participate in the Forum please contact  Nuala Campbell (nuala.campbell@fremantletrust.org) and ask to be added to the invitation mailing list.

Dementia Care Mapping Meeting

Gloria now also runs a meeting relating to dementia care mapping (DCM), which will be held twice a year. Once again this will be open to anyone working with people with dementia in Buckinghamshire.  However this meeting is only open to those people who are qualified in dementia care mapping.  

Contact Nuala Campbell to find out when the next meeting is and to book a place.

What is Dementia Care Mapping?

Dementia Care Mapping is an observational tool, taught by the  University of Bradford, designed to help understand people with dementia. Having dementia reduces our ability to clearly explain what we are thinking and feeling.  By observing people very closely, whilst they are in their normal, everyday environment, doing the things they always do, we can come to better understand how they are feeling. DCM helps us understand the behavioural, non verbal signals that people convey e.g. rocking could be a sign that someone is anxious.

By means of the dementia care maps we produce we try to understand how people feel about the care they receive, the environment in which they live and their relationship with other people.  What are their experiences and how are they reacting to them?  The aim is to try and help to improve the quality of life for each person with dementia. You might wonder how we can know what people are feeling if they cannot tell us?  The fact is observation can be very powerful when done in a structured, scientific way and with in-depth post observation analysis.

How does dementia care mapping work?
Firstly, it is important to realise that dementia care mapping is a highly skilled activity and staff have to be trained in the necessary observational techniques and how to ‘read’ or interpret behaviour. One or two people (the mappers) spend time observing residents with dementia in their normal living area.  Mapping is only done in communal settings; not in private areas.   Mappers carefully observe people using a list of behavioural circumstances, situations and responses.

Over a period of three to six hours they make detailed notes about what they observe. When the process is complete mappers provide immediate feedback to the manager and staff.  Later a full analysis of the data is carried out and the information is translated into helpful documents for care staff to read and make use of in support planning and every day interactions with the people who have been observed.  We use it to decide what, if anything, we need to change about the way the person lives their day. This can include environmental changes, care practices, relationships with other people etc. 

Click here for Previous Dementia Care Forum Information and relevant links