Care Inspectorate launches new dementia care support platform

Carers for people with dementia are being encouraged this Dementia Action Week (18-24 May) to visit a new website and app offering simple but effective hints and tips to reduce stress and distress without the need for medication.

The new Practical Dementia Resources platform from the Care Inspectorate is hosted on NHS Scotland’s Right Decision Service and includes more than 30 resources in different formats, including text, videos, animations and audio clips.

One resource is an audio clip of a care home manager discussing a care home resident who was irritable and upset during personal care. Staff initially tried their usual approaches, but the distress continued. The surprising discovery was that the resident was upset because the care staff were taller than them. Switching to staff of the same or shorter height made all the difference, and the resident is now happier, laughs with staff, eats more, and has seen a reduction in psychoactive medication use. 

Another is an animation demonstrating how dementia can profoundly alter visual perception, transforming seemingly harmless environmental features into sources of intense fear. In the story of Mary, evening shadows cast by patterned curtains morph into terrifying shapes, triggering a distressed reaction that could be misinterpreted as difficult behaviour. Rather than dismissing her fear, the staff investigate and identify the environmental trigger. By simply changing the curtains to remove the shifting shadows, the staff quickly resolved Mary's terror.

The website and app were funded by the Scottish Government and developed over two years in consultation with frontline staff and an assembled advisory group who attended testing events to review content and identify technical issues.

Maureen Cossar, senior improvement adviser in dementia at the Care Inspectorate, who leads the project with Dr David Marshall, senior improvement adviser for pharmacy, and Lynn White, improvement support officer, said: “When it comes to dementia care, we need to share and receive best practice from far and wide. The platform is co-designed by and for the practitioners who do this essential and demanding work every single day.

“We want to facilitate practical, peer-to-peer shared learning to improve dementia care and reduce the inappropriate use of psychoactive medicines. Carers made it clear that they need resources that are digital, easily accessible, emotionally resonant, and come in the form of practical tools and stories. I want to make it clear though, that the platform is not just for staff in care homes or for people employed in the care sector; it’s for anyone involved in care.

“There are many great resources on the website and app already, but this will be an ever-growing platform we continuously add to. We’re confident the existing content will inspire care workers and carers in many ways and encourage them to get in touch with their own stories that can be shared and utilised.”

Cheryl Henderson, education and dementia coordinator at Elder Homes, the operator of two care homes in Edinburgh, said: “These resources will help enhance people’s quality of life, not just those living with dementia but also those who support them. As there is such a wide range of videos and podcasts in one place, this ensures there is a broad range of subjects covered.

“The website and app are simple to use, plus the clips are nice and short, so they retain attention and give a lot of information in a short space of time. We are looking forward to seeing positive outcomes following the use of this person-centred resource.”

Dementia affects an estimated 90,000 people in Scotland.