Becoming more dementia friendly for World Alzheimer’s Day
21 September is World Alzheimer’s Day, when individuals and organisations are encouraged to take steps to become more dementia friendly in their day-to-day lives. The more people understand about dementia, the better they can support their communities.
In the UK there are 850,000 people living with dementia and that number is expected to increase to 1 million by 2020. There are currently 72,000 people in London who are living with dementia, only two-thirds of people receiving a diagnosis whilst a third do not.
At Londonwide LMCs we are keen to do our bit to support people living with dementia. We have hosted Dementia Friends training for both staff and Londonwide constituents. On 1 October we will be hosting a Virtual Dementia Tour (VDT) for our staff. The VDT is a medically and scientifically certified experience that has been proven to be the closest simulation of what living with dementia is like. Considering that most people know someone, or will know someone who is living with dementia, the tour will increase our staff’s personal development and will also improve the support and care they give. This tour is considered ‘must have’ training for every care professional or family member who wants to understand dementia by walking in the shoes of a person with the disease.
We have been shaping and participating in the Mayor of London’s initiatives to reduce health inequalities, of which Dementia Friendly London is a key strand, including an aspiration to make London the world’s first dementia friendly city.
Resources for practices
We encourage everyone to take part in dementia friendly initiatives during World Alzheimer’s Day and beyond:
- If you would like to know more about training practice staff to become Dementia Friends, resources are available on the Dementia Friends’ website: https://www.dementiafriends.org.uk
- Similarly if practice staff want to learn more about dementia itself, be it the symptoms, diagnosis and the different types of dementia, the Alzheimer’s Society has a vast variety of resources on their website: https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/
- If you want to know what dementia friendly activities, services and groups are available near your practice, this page provides a search function: https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/find-support-near-you#!/search
Releasing capacity in general practice: invitation to free roadshow (19 Jan 2016)
London GPs are invited to a free workshop co-hosted by NHS England and the BMA. The event is intended to improve understanding of the evidence about workload, provide insights into...Taking the next steps in encouraging the use of online services for patients (19 Jan 2016)
As the NHS develops its strategy for encouraging patients to make use of online services, the uptake within primary care has been patchy. As part of the process for ensuring...NHS England GP engagement survey (19 Jan 2016)
South East CSU is developing an outline business case for an improved system of urgent and emergency services on behalf of NHS England, and would like GPs to help by answering...Mandatory reporting requirements for GMC and NHSE Performers’ List (19 Jan 2016)
There have been a number of recent cases of GPs not being aware of the extent of the requirements for reporting an untoward occurrence to the GMC and/or NHSE under...It's election year at Londonwide LMCs! (19 Jan 2016)
It’s LMC election time again at Londonwide LMCs! Elections take place every two years on a rolling basis and any GP working in one of the 27 London boroughs we...Parental leave arrangements (19 Jan 2016)
Parental leave arrangements Since 1 April 2015, all practices have been entitled to reimbursement of the cost of GP cover for parental leave – that is maternity/paternity/adoption leave. This is...Speakers’ Corner - NHS England’s (London) Kenny Gibson on why the flu vaccine is important. (19 Jan 2016)
This month Kenny Gibson explains the importance of the flu vaccination programme. Kenny is Head of Public Health Commissioning for...Apprenticeship programme for General Practice in North West London (18 Jan 2016)
Londonwide LMCs and Health Education NWL are working in partnership with training providers to deliver apprenticeships in Business and Administration and Clinical Healthcare. We are currently running a successful pilot...Registration now open - Dr Phil Hammond to chair Londonwide LMCs’ annual conference on 20 April 2016 (14 Jan 2016)
Winter planning resilience guide to help practices (04 Jan 2016)
Our Winter Planning resilience guide will help GPs and their practices create and maintain a business continuity plan. The guide can be downloaded from our...Guidance
We provide expert guidance for practices in our guidance section, as well as an archive of other materials you may find useful.
GP Support
Contact our GP Support team if you need help or advice.
The team provide professional and pastoral support to GPs and practice teams on a broad range of issues.
follow us on...
