A national conversation to inform a new Dementia Strategy

With our National Dementia Lived Experience Panel and Strategic Advisory Group providing oversight and governance to the strategy development, we announced an open ‘National Conversation’ on dementia running from 30 September to 5 December 2022. The engagement approach is based around a small number of clear, open and easy to understand questions that allow people to offer their experiences.

People who participated in our National Conversation focused on:

• The need to change how we talk about dementia
• The importance of community .
• Policy into practice gap
• The ‘postcode lottery’
• Workforce issues
• Education and training

This information was captured in a high level summary of 'What People Told Us'

We developed these responses into a 10-year vision for change in our New Dementia Strategy for Scotland, as well as a summary document. Reflecting the inputs of our dementia communities (including the National Dementia Lived Experience Panel) and building on our world leading policy commitments, the Strategy sets out a long-term vision for change to meet the needs of people living with dementia, their families and their care partners:

“Our vision is of a Scotland where people living with dementia and their care partners have their strengths recognised, their rights upheld, and are supported to live an independent life, free from stigma and with person centred treatment, support and care when and where they need it.” 

It identifies a number of areas where we will focus our attention to improve the lives of people living with dementia, their families and care partners. This includes:

• Recognising dementia as a condition of the brain that affects the whole person, while upscaling efforts to address its mental health and wellbeing impacts
• Ensuring services and supports are dementia-inclusive and create environments which enable people with dementia to live their best possible life
• Delivering equity of access to information, treatment, care and support for people living with dementia
• Upholding a person’s human rights throughout their dementia journey
• Ensuring people are supported by a skilled, knowledgeable and trauma-informed workforce.

We look forward to delivering on the Strategy’s ambitions in subsequent delivery plans, the first of which we will publish in early 2024.