COLUMN: A new approach to dementia care

Chris Higgins, director of operations at Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LPFT).

Last year, during the temporary closure of one of Lincolnshire’s dementia wards, we started trialling a new hospital at home approach to supporting people living with dementia and their carers.

We have been so pleased to see the positive impact that dementia home treatment has been having that we have since made the decision to extend the pilot further.

Over the next 12 months, we will be enhancing what the team are doing, to understand what further impact this approach could have on improving patient and carer experience and outcomes. We will then use this evaluation and our engagement with patients, carers, staff and stakeholders to decide on next steps.

Greater support is being provided to people affected by dementia at home.

It does mean that during this extended pilot we will be leaving our dementia ward in Grantham (Manthorpe Ward) closed for a further year, but we continue to have our other dementia ward in Lincoln available for those that cannot be supported in the community and absolutely require hospital level care.

Manthorpe Ward is one of two dementia wards serving the whole of the county and was initially closed in the height of the pandemic due to significant staffing challenges. During the closure, we started to trial dementia home treatment to be able to better support vulnerable people in their community and prevent them coming into hospital – as it is known that admission for people with dementia can be very disruptive.

The dementia home treatment team has been helping prevent hospital admission and has enabled us to offer more support, to more people, and discharge from hospital faster. It’s also enabled us to increase the input we provide into care homes and as a result, hospital admissions are now only for those with very complex needs that cannot be supported in the community.

Whilst we have done lots of engagement already during the closure, we want to ensure everyone affected has the opportunity to share their views.

Anyone who is using or has used dementia services in Lincolnshire can share their views via our online survey, available at www.lpft.nhs.uk/hospital-at-home. We’ll also be visiting lots of local groups and organisations over the next few months and we’d welcome people coming along to talk to us and find out more.