Rights of people with dementia at heart of new funding

A new funding award of £135,000 has been announced by the Life Changes Trust to ensure that the rights of people living with dementia in care homes are recognised and respected.

Care homes across Scotland will benefit from the funding, and will use it to demonstrate how they support the inclusion and participation of residents with dementia in a meaningful way, so that residents have a genuine say in their own day to day lives. Sometimes the human rights of residents living in care homes can be forgotten or ignored, especially if they have a cognitive impairment like dementia.

Last year, the Scottish Government published Scotland’s new Health and Social Care Standards. These Standards state that everyone in Scotland deserves to receive the care and support that is right for them, focussing on people rather than just ticking boxes. They aim to encourage health and social care providers to think about what really matters to people who receive services, and their experience of the care they receive.

Each of the funded projects is designed to show how these Standards will work in practice, demonstrating how to treat residents with real respect and dignity.

Anna Buchanan, Director of the Life Changes Trust dementia programme said, “People who live in care homes have exactly the same rights as everyone else and we know that care homes want to make sure that all their residents feel at home and are treated with respect. This funding will support care homes to show how to do this well, and how to protect and promote the human rights of residents. It is our hope that these care homes will be useful exemplars for others who want to learn about how to implement practically the new human rights based Health and Social Care Standards.”

Anderson’s Care Home in Elgin has received funding to work with the Glasgow School of Art to explore the role of music in supporting a rights-based approach for people affected by dementia to tell their story, identify their needs and aspirations, and explore opportunities to widen their social interaction by developing a choir that extends to the wider community.

Bankhall Court in Glasgow has based their project on the belief that an active social life is key to helping people with dementia feel happy, and that everyone has the right to enjoy adventures. People with dementia will be encouraged to be creative and to take part in activities that help them realise their current potential and continue to thrive in later life.

Jenny’s Well in Paisley, which offers nursing care to older people with vision impairment, will explore what specific activities and support best meet the needs of people with dementia who are also vision impaired.

Dr Donald Macaskill, CEO, Scottish Care said, “While there are undoubted challenges of resourcing the sector and recruiting workers this is also a time when the human rights of residents, workers and families are increasingly being recognised as lying at the heart of all care. Dementia can be a frightening condition, with loss at its heart - loss of identity, loss of confidence, loss of relationships - and it can be all too easy for an individual to lose their sense of being in control, of being able to make choices, of exercising their own human rights. The Making Rights Real project is about turning that on its head. It’s about helping staff in care homes, families and individuals, recognise the role that upholding and advancing human rights can play in supporting and caring for people at very vulnerable points in their lives.

“The Life Changes Trust grant scheme is a remarkable contribution to making Scotland a place where everyone, regardless of place, condition, background or behaviour, has their rights respected and supported. It will help to make human rights ever more real across Scotland.”

Anna Buchanan added, “One of the really positive things about Scotland at the moment is that we are talking the language of human rights and our experience is that care homes are integral to this dialogue. Care home staff are at the frontline of delivering human rights to their residents and we hope to learn a huge amount from them.”

Those that will benefit from the funding include:

• Links View Care Home, Burntisland
• Auchtermairnie Care Home, Leven
• Balquhidder Care Home, Alexandria
• Jenny’s Well, Paisley
• Tigh a’ Rudha, Isle of Tiree
• Anderson’s Care Home, Elgin
• Laurels Lodge, Aberdeen
• Bankhall Court, Glasgow


The Life Changes Trust was set up with a Big Lottery Fund endowment of £50 million to improve the lives of two key groups in Scotland: people affected by dementia and care experienced young people.

ENDS
For further information and for press enquiries contact:

Deborah Cowan, Communications Manager: 0141 212 9606
Deborah.cowan@lifechangestrust.org.uk


NOTES TO EDITORS:

Our work with people with dementia has shown that the phrase “Dementia sufferers”, or using the word suffering to describe dementia has a strongly negative view from people with the condition. We would request that you avoid using the phrase in headlines or in any article you publish to combat the negative way that people with dementia feel the condition is described.

The Life Changes Trust was established by the Big Lottery in April 2013 with a ten year endowment of £50 million to support transformational improvements in the quality of life, well-being, empowerment and inclusion of people affected by dementia and young people with experience of being in care.

www.lifechangestrust.org.uk