About the Dementia programme
Dementia is becoming increasingly prevalent, both due to our ageing population and improved recognition of the condition. However, the nature of dementia means that effectively supporting people to live well with the condition can pose unique and sometimes difficult issues, both in the community and in hospital. The Dementia e-learning sessions have been designed to familiarise health and social care staff with recognising, understanding, assessing and effectively supporting people living with dementia and their families, ensuring high-quality, compassionate dementia care.
The sessions directly address the Prime Minister’s challenge on dementia 2020 by covering all aspects of care for people living with dementia and their family members, from diagnosis through to bereavement. They emphasise the importance of adopting the perspective and experience of those directly affected by dementia – people living with dementia and their family members – and ensuring effective support is provided to health and social care professionals charged with providing compassionate, co-ordinated and person-centred dementia care. The sessions draw on a range of research, best practice and experts by using experience from the UK and internationally to ensure excellence in dementia care. They reinforce the importance of dementia being everyone’s business.
The short video below introduces the principles of dementia, what it means to live with dementia and initiatives to help care for people living with dementia. Select the image to view the video.
Principles of dementia
More information
Over 800,000 people in the UK have dementia. The estimated cost to the NHS, local authorities and families is £23bn per year – higher than the costs of cancer, heart disease or stroke. Among the over-55s, dementia is feared more than any other illness.
People with dementia, their families and carers have told us that they want to receive an early diagnosis and timely, good-quality information that will help them to make informed choices about their care. They want the treatment and support they receive to be the best for their dementia and for their life, regardless of whether they are cared for at home, in hospital or in a care home.
Living well with dementia: A National Dementia Strategy was published in 2009 and set the standard for improving the lives of people with dementia, their families and carers through raising awareness, encouraging early diagnosis and providing high-quality treatment and care. The strategy can be downloaded here. The Government’s outcomes-focused implementation plan for the strategy, published in September 2010, is also available here.
The Prime Minister’s challenge on dementia, available by following this link, was launched on 26 March 2012 and is an ambitious programme of work designed to make a real difference to the lives of people with dementia. By building on the achievements of the National Dementia Strategy, the ambition is to secure greater improvements in dementia care and research so that people with dementia, their carers and families get the services and support they need. The Challenge is a challenge to the whole of society, as well as to government, the NHS and social care. It focuses on three key areas:
- Driving improvements in health and care
- Creating dementia-friendly communities that understand how to help
- Better research
The Dementia e-learning sessions support the implementation of the National Dementia Strategy and the Prime Minister’s challenge on dementia. Three introductory e-learning sessions cover the following topics :
- Understanding Dementia
- Supporting People to Live Well With Dementia
- Challenging Stigma, Myths and Stereotypes
The information in these introductory sessions will support those who come across difficult questions such as ‘I am worried about Dad’, that could be asked of anyone in contact with patients and families on a day-to-day basis. It also acknowledges the importance of public health messages and addressing social stigma as essential to making a difference in dementia.
The later sessions cover a range of topics, including:
- Supporting Families of People with Dementia
- Multi-professional and Collaborative Working to Support People Affected by Dementia
- End of Life Care for People with Dementia
- Diversity and Dementia
Open access sessions
-
Understanding Dementia
This session will help you to understand the changes associated with dementia, how these are experienced by people living with dementia and their families, and the range of aspects of a person's life which we can draw on to ensure people live well with dementia.
-
Supporting People to Live Well With Dementia
In this session, we will look at how you can provide person-centred care to people with dementia and to their family and close friends.
-
Challenging Stigma, Myths and Stereotypes
This session will introduce what stigma is, the way people affected by dementia are stigmatised, its consequences for people living with dementia and what we can do to challenge it.
-
Barbara’s story
This video follows a patient who has symptoms of dementia, and explores the challenges she faces when she comes into contact with NHS staff at home and in hospital. Note that this is a link to external content and as such may be blocked by your organisation.
How to access
In order to access any e-LfH programme, you will need an e-LfH account. If you do not have one, then you can register by selecting the Register button below.
If you already have an account with e-LfH, then you can enrol on to the Dementia programme by logging in to the e-LfH Hub, selecting My Account > Enrolment and selecting the programme. You can then access the programme immediately in the My e-Learning section.
How to license
In the event that you do not qualify for free access to the Dementia programme, you are able to license access through eIntegrity, a community-interest company established for this purpose.
For more information on the licensing options available for the Dementia programme, please visit the eIntegrity website.
Care home or hospice staff
To register for the Dementia programme, select the ‘Register’ button. Select the option ‘I am a care home or hospice worker’ then enter your care home / hospice name or postcode and select it from the options available in the drop down list. Finally enter your care home / hospice registration code and select ‘Register’. You may need to see your employer to get this code.
If your employer does not have a code, then they need to contact the e-LfH Support Team. The Support Team can either give the employer the registration code or arrange a bulk upload of all staff.
Social care professionals
Access to e-LfH content is available to all social care professionals in England whose employers are registered with the Skills for Care National Minimum Data Set for Social Care (NMDS-SC). Every employer providing NMDS-SC workforce information to Skills for Care has been given a user registration code for their staff. This code enables you to self-register for access to Dementia. Please contact your employer for more details about the registration code. For information about registering your organisation with the NMDS-SC your employer should access www.nmds-sc-online.org.uk or contact the Skills for Care Support Service on 0845 8730129.
If you have a registration code, you can register by clicking here.
NHS healthcare staff in England
The Dementia programme is also available to NHS healthcare staff via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR). Accessing this e-Learning via ESR means that your completions will transfer with you throughout your NHS career.
Further details are available here.
Available to all
The three introductory sessions of the Dementia e-learning programme are available to access using the Open access sessions above. If you access the content using this link, you will not have to log in but your activity will not be tracked and you will not be able to generate a record of completion.