Health and social care professionals in Greater Manchester have teamed up with academics to come up with an innovative new care training programme for the treatment of people with dementia in hospitals.
Along with NHS Trusts in Salford, Central Manchester and Bolton, the Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Manchester have worked together to develop the “Getting to Know Me” dementia training programme for hospital staff.
The programme is designed to give general hospital staff a greater level of confidence and skill in providing care to the people with the disease who occupy around 25 per cent of hospital beds every year. Its training materials are free to access and download, and they have been compiled with input from people who are actually living with dementia.
Nearly 500 hospital staff have completed the care training programme so far, and most have demonstrated greater knowledge and confidence in relation to providing care to dementia patients.
Commenting on aims of the new training programme, Senior Nurse for Older People at Bolton NHS Trust, Pat Graham, said:
“It’s so important for the care of people with dementia that all staff understand them and how best to meet their needs.”