Workshops to focus on dementia service provision
A RESEARCH team from the University of the West of Scotland will visit Shetland next month to host workshops on the service provision for dementia patients in the isles.
The team, led by lecturer Steve Mullay, is keen to share the initial findings of their research into the local set-up.
And they would like to hear from both health and care professionals and from people who have been affected by dementia in their families.
Dementia is an umbrella term for a range of progressive conditions that affects people’s ability to remember, think and speak.
The number of people living with dementia continues to rise as people get older and are more likely to suffer from the condition. One person in six over the age of 80 will develop dementia.
Mullay said the provision of access to dementia expertise and services in Shetland has been “quite unique” for a number of years.
Back in 2011, NHS Shetland and the council introduced two dementia advanced clinical nurse specialists to provide a service in communities and in people’s homes, and to overcome the lack of access to specialist services in rural and remote regions.
Mullay said these advanced nurse practitioners were “skilled up” to be able to prescribe medication, make preliminary diagnosis and generally help and support those affected by the condition.
“There isn’t anything which approximates this in the UK,” he said.
“So full marks to NHS Shetland and Shetland Islands Council for setting this up a good few years back. It was an innovative and brave move.”
Three workshops will be held in Lerwick, Cullivoe and Brae between 12 and 14 August.
Research assistant Tamsin MacBride said the workshops are about hearing people’s experiences of the service, in terms of what is working well and what we could be done better.
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“We would like the workshops to be a way of sharing the findings, but they will also be interactive and a safe place to share experiences and work together to think about what how this could look like moving forward,” she said.
Mullay added that other regions in the UK, including urban areas could learn from the Shetland approach.
“Certainly, you can learn from remote and rural areas as they have to make do, and you can apply these learnings to urban areas as well,” he said.
The workshops, jointly hosted with the council’s Living Well Hub team, will run between 9.30 am and 3.30pm on
- 12 August at the Islesburgh Community Centre, Lerwick;
- 13 August in the Cullivoe hall;
- 14 August in the Brae hall.
For further information and to book a space please contact Dr Steve Mullay at Stephen.Mullay@uws.ac.uk
The university’s research project is funded by the RS Macdonald Charitable Trust.
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