Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Good Hope, Heartlands and Solihull Hospital, is piloting a new booklet to provide better dementia care in its hospitals.

Based on what staff and carers have said would help them to respond to the person with dementia’s needs, ‘About me’ is filled out and given to staff when a person with dementia goes onto a ward and provides a ‘snapshot’ of the person behind the dementia. The booklet helps hospital staff to learn about the person’s habits, hobbies, likes and dislikes.

People with dementia can become agitated and confused when they are in an unfamiliar environment and it is this behaviour that nurses can find challenging and prevent them from providing good care. ‘About me’ will help staff to communicate appropriately with people with dementia, helping to reduce any feelings of agitation or distress.

Margaret Meixner, Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust dementia practitioner, said: “Staff can sometimes find it difficult to engage and care for people with dementia. We hope ‘About me’ will support staff to provide the best possible quality of care, by helping them to get to know the individual and understand their needs.  For family members of patients with dementia, knowing that their relative is being cared for appropriately then also alleviates any feelings of anxiety that they may feel.”

Initially, ‘About me’ will be used on elderly care and trauma & orthopaedics wards at Heartlands and Good Hope Hospital for a three month period, then rolled out across all hospital sites as part of the Trust’s Dementia and Delirium strategy.  The fact that by 2015, approximately 850,000 people nationally will have a diagnosis of dementia and that one in four patients within the Trust’s bed occupancy is made up of people with dementia and/or confusion have acted as driving forces for developing this strategy.