Agenda item

To consider a report of the Director of Adult Social Care informing the Board of the proposed steps to improve services and quality of life for people with dementia, families and carers

(report attached)

The Board considered a report of the Director of Adult Social Care setting out  the proposed steps to improve services and quality of life for people with dementia, their families and carers.  Appended to the report was a copy of the joint Leeds City Council/NHS Leeds draft local strategy entitled ‘ Living Well with Dementia in Leeds’ which had been launched for public consultation document with 30^th September 2012 being the closing date for comments.  A copy of the consultation questionnaire which accompanied the draft strategy was circulated at the meeting

Attending for this item were:

• Dennis Holmes (Deputy Director) – Leeds City Council, Adult Social Services
• Mick Ward (Head of Commissioning) – Leeds City Council, Adult Social Services
• Tim Sanders (Integrated Commissioning and Transformation Manager, Dementia) – NHS Leeds and Leeds City Council

Addressing the meeting, the Deputy Director outlined that the principal aim of the draft strategy was to make the City of Leeds more ‘dementia friendly’.  Noting that, at its previous meeting in June 2012, the Scrutiny Board had identified dementia as a specific work area it was highlighted that this provided an opportunity for the Scrutiny Board to comment on the draft strategy as part of the wider consultation process

It was highlighted that dementia had been identified as a national priority and while Leeds had a track record for being an early implementer of a number of initiatives in this area, the draft strategy should be regarded as Leeds’ formal response to the national imperative

In response to Members’ comments and questions, the following issues were discussed:

• Exploitation and abuse of dementia sufferers; the need for workers in all adult care settings to be aware of this; to know the reporting mechanisms if this was suspected and the role of the Adult Safeguarding Board in addressing these issues
• The importance of training especially for medical staff dealing with people with dementia who also had other, often unrelated, health issues that required treatment
• Links between dementia and suicide and the difficulty in forming conclusions on this, often as a result of coroners’ verdicts
• The numbers of people with dementia as set out in the report; the basis of this information and the likelihood that the number of dementia suffers from BME groups was higher than indicated
• The importance of early diagnosis of the condition but also ensuring people with symptoms similar to early onset dementia were not misdiagnosed.  It was also noted that there was some evidence to suggest it might take up to 12 months for some sufferers to seek professional help
• The need to ensure connections were being made between those people with the condition and the support services that were available
• That whilst nationally dementia was a priority, no new funding was available so delivery against the strategy would need to be funded through existing resources.  However the importance of efficiencies generated through service integration across the local Health and Social Care economy was highlighted
• The use of Admiral Nurses - a model of care but currently not in use across Leeds that provided support to the carer rather than the patient
• The need to ensure that at the point of diagnosis plans were put in place for the future, particularly around financial issues, i.e. power of attorney
• Younger people with dementia and the need to ensure if they required full-time care, this was in an age-related setting
• The role of GPs and that the three CCGs in Leeds had the issue of dementia identified within their target training programme
• That family support should be provided, possibly through the provision of family conferences
• Residential care; the need to ensure this was of high quality; the difficulties when couples were separated due to care needs and the potential role of extra care housing schemes
• Bereavement support for families and the role hospices could have in providing help and advice to Local Authorities and the NHS in this area

Whilst the Board welcomed the report, the draft strategy and the opportunity to formally respond, Members highlighted a desire to consider the draft action plan produced following analysis of all the consultation responses

RESOLVED -  

a)  To note the publication of the draft dementia strategy and the period of public consultation ending 30^th September 2012

b)  That the Principal Scrutiny Adviser draft and circulate to all Board Members a proposed formal consultation response on behalf of the Scrutiny Board (Health and Wellbeing and Adult Social Care), with a final draft to be submitted to the September 2012 meeting for approval

c)  That following analysis of all the consultation responses, a draft action plan be submitted to the Board for consideration at a future meeting