A national conversation to inform a new Dementia Strategy

I have an MSc in Dementia Studies, have been manager of a care home for people with behavioural issues associated with dementia and have cared for my father at his home when he had dementia. Currently I know a number of people who have dementia, and one thing I have noticed is how unwilling many families, particularly spouses/partners are to accept help and contact from friends, and thus become isolated from their social circles. I am not sure if this is due to perceived stigma or a desire to be in control of the person's life.
When a person's dementia advances, it seems to me that admission to care is seen as the only option by professionals and many families, mainly I think due to the cost of the amount of support needed in the community.

This is currently not applicable to me. When I cared for my father in Redacted text, some of the services were superb and innovative. He attended day care 2 days per week, which took place in a lady's home, eating home cooked food at lunch time, meeting her family. I have not come across this option anywhere else in the country, and I am sure that more people like myself would be happy to provide this service. He also had the opportunity of having a respite break in a family home in Perthshire. He was a farmer and was paired up with a couple on a farm who provided this service. In my experience, people become more dependant if they have respite in a care home, this was an excellent service. He had an excellent package of home care, but this was really only possible as he had private funds to contribute.

1. The biggest challenge I believe is societal attitudes. People should not expect the government/council to pay for everything. Families somehow need to understand that care must be paid for and not grudge the money that their relatives pay for quality care.
2. Quality care costs. To provide quality care, requires quality, well trained staff. Staff need to be paid commensurate with their job in order to attract good people into this work. This would require a change in attitude towards taxation etc.
3. Staff training - SVQs in Health and Social Care are not adequate for this. Standardised, face to face training delivered independent of employers is required.
4. There is much technology for use to help people with dementia stay at home, from simple gadgets to complex technology. More awareness and use of this is needed.
5. Lack of understanding of dementia in society as a whole, could be addressed through TV, social media etc.

This would help more people to live in their own home. People with dementia are less confused and find life less challenging in a familiar environment.
They would experience person centred care.
Families/friends would be more relaxed, and relationships maintained.

A lot of work has been done at the Dementia Services Development Centre at Stirling about caring for people with dementia, environmental design, staff training etc, but I do not see this utilised in the everyday lives of ordinary people with dementia, or staff.

Hospitals, care homes etc have Dementia Champions. I have yet to see the effect of this on staff or people with dementia. I have not been able to see what these people actually do. Until I retired 2 years ago, I worked as a nurse for the NHS where there was supposedly a Dementia Champion. I was unaware of how to contact her or any work that she did. I suspect that they spend times designing policies, which lie on a shelf. Their time would be better utilised teaching people how to be kind and how to communicate and work with a person with dementia.