Delivering empowering care

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Peter Watson

Younger People with Dementia, UK

: Int J Ment Health Psychiatry

Abstract

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A diagnosis of dementia so often leads to social isolation, exclusion from normal activities, unmanageable carer stress and unplanned calls on NHS resources. Providing quality respite for carers knowing the person they care for is receiving support that makes life meaningful and worthwhile helps alleviate these problems. The charity Younger People with Dementia (YPWD) in Berkshire, UK delivers activities reflecting typical community life, art, sport and exercise, gardening, music and drama. Group activities take place within the community bringing normality and reducing stigma. Education courses for patients and carers run in parallel. Outcomes include longer time to residential care need, fewer unplanned medical interventions, some stabilization in Mini–Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores and expressions of greater well-being by patients and carers. The empowerment realized has delivered self-help peer support between both groups. YPWD delivers these services to those affected by young onset dementia, but it is equally applicable across the dementia spectrum.

Biography

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Peter Watson is now a trustee of YPWD and has been campaigned to get the plight of cares recognized, helped design the implementation plan for the UK Dementia Strategy and served two terms on the Board of the Dementia Action Alliance. He is on the Dementia Program Board overseeing the implementation of Government strategy for dementia. He also helped form and is on the steering group of, the Young Dementia Network, on the Carer’s Advisory Panel of the charity Dementia Carers Count and a Member of the Thames Valley Dementia Network.

E-mail: peter.watson@abilityltd.co.uk