How is the Welsh Government ensuring that the social care sector is equipped and trained to deal with patients presenting with increasingly complex cases of dementia?
Each region in Wales has a dementia learning and development group, that supports the social care workforce by developing and delivering quality learning development opportunities.
SCW led the development of the national framework for dementia learning and development, called the Good Work Framework: and then worked with regions and people living with dementia to create a toolkit to help implement the vision set out by the framework.
Dementia learning and development is delivered through three key areas:
Social care qualifications: The All-Wales Induction Framework (AWIF) and HSC qualifications for social care workers in adult settings include dementia. As a minimum all new workers are required to complete the AWIF with section 3 on Health and Wellbeing covering issues such as indicators / signs of dementia; how dementia can affect individuals; communicating with an individual living with dementia and understanding the impact supporting an individual living with dementia can on family / carers.
Social Care Wales Workforce Development Programme (SCWWDP) funded training: A comprehensive series of dementia learning and development opportunities continue to be provided to the whole sector regionally, in addition to the AWIF and HSC qualifications for social care workers mentioned above.
New WeCare Wales Introduction to Dementia courses: The Introduction to dementia sessions will be run once a month initially, the first one starting mid-September. The session aims to help people understand what dementia is and how the symptoms occur, but most importantly will be about how to support a person to live well with dementia. Participants will also receive a certificate and resource pack with contact links to further learning and support. The sessions is available to anyone interested in learning more about dementia. This could include unpaid carers, care and support staff, volunteers or anyone interested in working in the sector.
In addition to the training available, Social Care Wales has a range of resources and advice on their website available to any social care staff who are supporting people living with dementia.
The Dementia Action Plan published in February 2018, outlines our vision for dementia care and support in Wales. To support the implementation of this vision a suite of dementia care standards were published, which promotes a whole systems integrated care approach, and includes a focus on learning and development. All Regional Partnership Boards have established workstreams to focus on the implementation of these standards. Regional Integration Funding has also been made available to RPBs to support the implementation of the Dementia Action Plan, with resources being utilised to enhance the training offer across the various sectors involved in dementia care. To support this work a National Dementia Learning and Development Group has been established. This group is currently working to update the Good Work Framework referenced above, the membership of this group includes Social Care Wales.
This links to the work of the Welsh Government’s strategy for an Ageing Society which sets out our vision for an age friendly Wales, which supports people of all ages to live and age well and challenges the way we think and feel about ageing. The Strategy spans a broad range of policy areas from health and social care for older people living with complex needs such as those living with dementia and their carers. We are working across government to address the wide range of factors that influence how we age – from our health, social care and transport systems to the way we socialise, work and care for others.