Creating Dementia Friendly Communities

Summary

The number of people living with dementia in Cardiff is estimated to increase by 30.1% by 2030 and 41.1% of those with advanced dementia. This scheme aims to support people with dementia to live better, more fulfilled lives, remain active and part of their community, and support the Welsh Government’s commitment to building Dementia Friendly Communities across Wales.

The programme was launched on World Alzheimer’s Day, 21st September 2022, and the aim is for Dementia Friendly Ambassador Volunteers and Dementia Friendly Community Officers to support local shops, businesses, and organisations to work towards becoming dementia friendly.

Volunteers and Community Officers help organisations recognise the impact of dementia, understand how it changes customer needs, and how to support those affected by dementia. This helps people affected by dementia and their families live well and do the things that they want to do, e.g. going shopping, having a coffee in a local café, or visiting their local park.

To date (January 2024), 245 organisations in Cardiff have pledged to undertake dementia friendly action. Organisations that have pledged include GP/doctor’s surgeries, community centres, shops, hair salons, pubs, libraries, pharmacies and churches.

Examples of dementia friendly action that organisations in Cardiff have taken include:
– Becoming a Dementia Friend through online training and in person sessions
-Displaying Dementia Friendly Cardiff website leaflets in their premises
– Encouraging other organisations to be dementia friendly on social media and at trader’s events
– Completing a dementia friendly environment check of their premises and making changes where possible, e.g. changing toilet seats to colour contrasting ones

Website: https://dementiafriendlycardiff.co.uk/dementia-friendly-business-organisation/

Key facts

Main target group: Vulnerable older people (e.g. at risk or victims of abuse, living alone, poor etc.)

Other target group(s): People affected by dementia

Sector(s): Health, Housing, Information and communication, Labor, Social protection, Transportation, Urban development

Other sector(s): Retail

Desired outcome for older people:
Meet their basic needs

Other issues the Age-friendly practice aims to address:

Ageism
Accessibility
Ageing in place
Dementia
Healthy behaviours (e.g. physical activity)
Inequities
Inclusion
Participation

Contact details

Name: Nicola Pitman

Email address: nicola.pitman@cardiff.gov.uk

Age-friendly practice in detail (click to expand):

Engaging the wider community

Project lead: Local authorities

Others involved in the project:

Social or health care provider
Volunteers
Research institution

How collaboration worked: Dementia Friendly Cardiff is a collaboration between Cardiff Council, Alzheimer’s Society Cymru and Cardiff and Vale University Health Board. Funding was received from the Cardiff and Vale Regional Partnership Board (RPB) for a Cardiff-based Community Officer.

Older people’s involvement: Older people were involved in the age-friendly practice at multiple or all stages

Details on older people’s involvement: The initiative is based on a model developed by Alzheimer’s Society – older people and people with dementia were involved in the development of the original programme. One action that organisations can choose to take is to attend a Dementia Friends session. Dementia Friends is a global social action movement – Alzheimer’s Society developed Dementia Friends in the United Kingdom following a 2012 survey of 850,000 people living with dementia.

Moving forward

Has the impact of this age-friendly practice been analysed: No

Do you plan to evaluate your age-friendly practice? No

Feedback:
Feedback from some of the organisations that have pledged: “I was pleasantly surprised how easy it has been to adapt our practice to make it Dementia Friendly. It’s interesting how just simple education about the requirements of people with dementia can help” “Becoming a Dementia Friendly organisation has transformed the way that we engage with our residents” “Becoming a Dementia Friendly business has given us extra confidence to help assist people with dementia and their carers. It has also encouraged engagement from new clients” Visitors to organisations that have pledged are invited to give feedback on their experiences via the Dementia Friendly Cardiff website.

Expansion plans:
Going forward, the plan is to continue to expand the scheme by targeting organisations in new geographical areas of the city.

Looking back

Challenges:
An initial challenge faced was deciding how best to approach businesses and organisations to let them know about the scheme – this was addressed by considering previous approaches of similar initiatives. It was decided that a ‘boots on the ground’ approach would likely work best, with volunteers and Community Officers physically approaching businesses and organisations within the community. Another challenge has been recruiting and retaining volunteers – this has been addressed by recruiting a dedicated Volunteer Coordinator. Connections have been made with the University of South Wales, Cardiff University and Volunteering Wales who advertise the scheme on their websites. The Volunteer Coordinator is also a part of the Cardiff Third Sector Council’s Volunteer Coordinators Network. Many organisations (especially small businesses) are extremely busy and staff often have limited time to talk about the pledging scheme with the volunteers and Community Officers when they visit. In these cases, the business or organisation is re-visited at a more convenient time.