A wide range of themes are covered in the shared memory bags collection. The new bags cover themes including Countryside, Family Life, In the Garden and Funny Old World.
Shropshire Libraries worked with local partners to produce the latest bags. The Diocese of Lichfield’s Dementia Churches programme contributed knowledge, practical help and objects to the faith-based bag ‘Strength for the Journey.’ In Oswestry, two Welsh-speaking community groups provided funding for the bilingual ‘Land of My Fathers’ memory bag.
The Dementia Team at SaTH is looking for people to help knit or donate colourful knitted blankets.
Karen Breese and Lucy Davies from the dementia team at SaTH
The blankets help patients, particularly those with dementia, to find their way back to bed more easily – and also see the edge of the bed more clearly when getting in and out. They also provide a more homely feel to the wards.
The scheme has been successful at other hospitals and now the team is keen to roll it out at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford.
Although there have been no complaints about the system, or lives put at risk, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has examined the council’s approach.
Whilst not criticising the local authority for the work that it had done in prioritising applications, now the Ombudsman has said that the council has acted unlawfully by not carrying out a full assessment for every case. The Ombudsman added that the council should prepare an action plan so that once the Mental Capacity Act is amended, probably in 2020, it can revise its prioritisation approach.
Ward staff and dementia specialists at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) have joined forces to transform an uninspiring day room into a town square complete with a café, newsagent and views of St Chad’s Church.
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Members of Oswestry’s Trailblazers group had the opportunity last week (Friday 8 March 2019) to try out the newly-launched Shared Memory Bags from Shropshire Council’s library service.
Oswestry Library staff were at hand to demonstrate the Memory Bags with the group, who support people diagnosed with dementia, during their weekly catch up at the Whole Life Centre in Oswestry.
The Nurse Manager in the Mental Health and Vascular Wellbeing Team at North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust (NSCHT) led a programme of work to introduce a digital application (app) into the care and treatment plans for service users at high risk of developing mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The app was designed to digitally link the nursing and medical staff with the service user, enabling care closer to home, empowering service users, families and carers to have greater control and input into planning their treatment and care and improving service user experience and outcomes.
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The scheme involves a dementia-friendly mug and plastic tumbler playing pre-set messages to patients not drinking regularly enough. They can be programmed with personalised messages from patients’ families and help ward staff keep a check.
Karen Breese, Dementia Nurse Specialist at SaTH, which runs the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford and the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, said: “We know that people living with dementia-related conditions can feel distressed when they are in unfamiliar surroundings, therefore inviting them to care for a doll is just one way we work with some patients to ease any anxiety they feel about being away from home.
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People in Stafford are being invited to the exhibition This Way Up, an exhibition of art created by Limewood residents at the specialist dementia care centre in the town.
The exhibition shows artwork created in collaboration with professional artists during a creative wellbeing project led by Creative Health. Workshops were developed specifically for Limewood residents which gave them the opportunity to work with ceramics, textiles, inks, drawing, painting, felt making, print and sculpture.
Seven libraries are hosting ‘Tea and Memories’ sessions, featuring reminiscence activities, tea and cake, and opportunities to discover the library service’s Books on Prescription for Dementia collections as well as free, loanable Shared Memory Bags.
It follows research by the Dementia Centre at the University of Stirling which revealed that changing white plates for blue ones meant that people living with dementia could see the food they were eating stand out – including chicken, mashed potatoes, porridge, white bread and other typically pale-coloured favourite foods – and as a result, the average intake rose by half a pound a day.
From April 2018, Age UK Shropshire Telford & Wrekin will run a new dementia respite service at the Choices Housing Association building at Withywood on Ellesmere Road, Shrewsbury. It’s an opportunity for carers to have a full day to do what they would like to do, safe in the knowledge their loved one is being cared for by a trained, experienced caring team. Set in the brand new building with fantastic facilities, the respite service will be every Monday, excluding public holidays 10am – 4pm.
To help with this Karen Breese, Dementia Clinical Specialist at SaTH, has teamed up with the Trust’s Catering Department to create small packs of finger food, which will be available to patients at any time of the day or night.
To create the packs, Karen worked with Barbara Hodkinson from the Butterfly Scheme, which provides a system of hospital care for people living with dementia, as well as patients and their carers.
The Burton Centre of Excellence will provide specialist accommodation in a home-style environment for people with dementia, providing high quality care and support in an innovative, purpose built setting.
It is being built on the site of the former Margaret Stanhope Centre in Outwoods, Burton at a cost of £6.4m with £945,000 of funding from the Homes & Communities Agency.
George has helped make health and social care services better by highlighting the issues people with dementia face, and has made his community more dementia aware.
He formed and chairs the Shropshire and Telford Dementia Action Alliance. He also provides regular provides training to organisations and members of the public in how to communicate with people with dementia.