Communication aspects of personalised care planning in dementia 

Personalised care and support planning is a priority for NHS England and plays a vital role in improving the quality of dementia services. NHS England is committed to supporting the quality of post-diagnosis treatment and support for people with dementia and their carers.  

We are addressing communication challenges that primary care staff face in personalised dementia care planning, to understand communication barriers/facilitators (in-person, remote and IT) to integrated care planning and identify workforce training needs for facilitating personalised care planning conversations. We will identify elements of good practice by analysing existing videos of memory clinic-based care planning conversations.  

Results will underpin an NIHR School for Primary Care Research funding application focusing on people with dementia who live alone, with no informal carer to support them with accessing services, as an under-represented group in research. The research will determine the care and support needs, and strengths, of this group, and the communication training needed for staff to engage effectively with this under-represented group, in co-creating and sharing personalised care plans. 

Everyone living with dementia should have a personalised care plan. Yet these are inconsistent and often lack personalisation. Personalised care and support planning is a priority for NHS England and plays a vital role in improving the quality of dementia services. We built on our novel models of personalised care in community settings that optimise equitable access, including supporting navigation of e-health systems and remote consultations. We focused on people living with dementia who are underserved with low health/digital literacy, and/or from ethnic minority groups. The research determined the care and support needs, and strengths, of this group, and the communication training needed for staff to engage effectively with these under-represented groups. 

Current work has included: two papers published to peer reviewed journals and; study findings that have informed a further NIHR funded study focused on the co-production of culturally relevant social prescribing for South Asian and minority ethnic carers.

ARC NT Dementia Award