A short item of news this month, but a crucial one. Many of you will have registered with your local hospital that you (or someone you care for) will need dementia-friendly care. That registration may have been permanently noted on file, meaning that once it’s been registered, you’ve not needed to mention it again.
However, during the pandemic it seems that many hospitals with alerts on electronic systems have had to remove those alerts, using that space for Covid status instead. There may therefore now be no record on file of the dementia care need. This is very unfortunate, but I accept that this has been a time of huge disruption and that some big changes had to be made very urgently.
So, what should you do to ensure the hospital team knows of the dementia care need? I’d recommend that you simply ensure that your local hospital is alerted if the person needing appropriate dementia care goes in; with Covid still about, it may be that the alert can’t yet be permanently reinstated. Please don’t hesitate to speak to a dementia champion in the first instance and the Dementia Care Lead if you’re still not sure.
It’s in everybody’s interests that appropriate dementia care is given, so your input should be valued and appreciated.