Agenda item

Draft Joint Dementia Strategy 2018-2021, Harrow CCG and Harrow Council.

The Sub-Committee received the Draft Dementia Strategy 2018-2021, prepared jointly by Harrow Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), Harrow Council and Public Health Harrow, which was committed to improving the patient’s journeys in terms of living well with dementia.  There had been an increasing focus on the Dementia Diagnosis Rate, to enable easy access to care, support and advice following diagnosis.  The intention of the Strategy was to increase the level of diagnosis to ensure appropriate post diagnostic support for patients and carers with a view to creating a more Dementia friendly borough.

A representative from Harrow CCG introduced the Draft Strategy and outlined, in brief, its key components.  He explained that the original Strategy had been refreshed and invited questions and comments from Members of the Sub-Committee and other partners present at the meeting.

Members of the Sub-Committee asked questions relating to:

-               the status of the Draft Strategy prior to its adoption and how it would be launched;

-               the plans in place to help raise awareness about dementia, the support available locally and the cultural and stigma barriers associated with the illness;

-               the support available to carers;

-               the gap between the current position and one that the partners would want to be in with regard to the Strategy and local actions.

Representatives from the CCG responded as follows:

-               the CCG would initiate meetings with the Council with a view to drilling down some 50 recommendations which needed addressing.  Additional funding was required and needed to be approved, including the commissioning intentions of the partners.  For example, a balance between the use of Admiral Nurses or Enhanced Practice Nurses would need to be considered;

-               work to raise awareness in the community was underway and a launch was being planned;

-              guidance from NHS England had been sought regarding the issues surrounding cultural and stigma barriers and boroughs with diverse populations, such as Newham, were cited and were being studied. Harrow too had a diverse population in that it had a large BAME group with 50% of the group being made up of people from South Asia.  Some work had been done on how residents could be educated and these measures would be included as part of the recommendations and action plan;

-              carers would be suitably supported and work with Age UK would continue in this regard.

A Member stated that scrutiny was a ‘critical friend’ and that, in that capacity, he was concerned that the Council’s website did not make reference to the work being undertaken in relation to dementia.  It was important that both the CCG and the Council sign posted this key document on their respective websites.  Another Member asked if any gaps had been identified.  Officers took note of the importance of using the website as a vehicle to ensure public awareness.  It was noted that joint working amongst partners was helping to identify gaps and work with the providers was underway.

Another representative of the CCG reported that the information and services available to people with dementia would be promoted through the Harrow Health App but due to some technical difficulties this would not be achieved until December 2018.  It would also be promoted through other mediums.  The representative identified two areas of importance in relation to dementia – a formal diagnosis and the support provided thereafter.  She highlighted the importance of integrated care and the work being undertaken in this area, such as the partnership working to develop and deliver integrated care initially for a subset of older adults, one group being the 65 plus with dementia.  Various work programmes had had different timelines but it was expected that they would all come together and ensure that all services were fully supported.

In response to a question from a representative from the LNWUHT regarding care homes and the Red Bag scheme, the CCG agreed to share information in relation to the engagement with the 13 care homes which were part of the scheme, how often the scheme had been used when patients were admitted from those care homes and what the training needs were for those care homes that needed to be provided, such as dementia awareness training.

RESOLVED:  That

(1)         the Draft Dementia Strategy 2018 – 2021 and the contributions from Members and Partners be noted;

(2)         it be noted that the CCG would share information within care homes for dementia awareness training as set out in the preamble above.