36 Dementia - Housing and Care Homes for those with Dementia

Housing provider teams - planners, designers, developers, housing managers, professional advisers, etc - play an increasingly important role in enabling those with dementia to remain at home for as long as possible. In many respects they are a key to early diagnosis, and hence treatment in a safe and secure environment - their own home. The last sentence reflects the national imperative to reduce hospital admissions of those with dementia. 

From now on dementia does or will reflect, perhaps slowly, in the education, training and continuing professional development of all the team's players. 

Some local dementia action alliances will be developed to include housing as one of the themes. Some will demonstrate the action on this topic to include a closer workng configuration of the following:

• social care services
• housing services
• fire and rescue services.

The first actions are likely to training and career development of staff in terms of:

• awareness of national and local policy for dementia
• awareness of the types, symptoms, and life journey with dementia
• prevalence of diagnosis and its growth
• the likely impacts of dementia oplanninn community social care, housing,  residential care settings and other services. 

A first approach might be awareness and information sessions for some staff being able to voluntarily become dementia friends. All staff  are likely to need something similar but this might be included in sessions involving work-related topics on dementia. for housing these might include:

• planning and development aspects for dementia 
• design of housing and care settings for dementia
• design of green infrastructure (gardens, open spaces etc) for dementia
• interior retro-design and retro-furnishing 
• built-in or retro-fitted assistive technology in the homes and care settings for  those with dementia