Tuesday, 5 November 2019

Dementia Carer Voices 5 Steps to Change Flyer looking at Leading Change, Transforming Care.

Dementia Carer Voices 5 Steps to Change Flyer looking at leading change, transforming care.

Dementia Carer Voices would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has made a pledge as part of the ‘You Can Make a Difference’ campaign and we are absolutely delighted to have received nearly 20,000 pledges!

This is a wonderful milestone to reach and would not be possible without the commitment and passion of everyone who attends our talks, reads about our campaign and pledges to make a difference to the lives of people with living with dementia and their carers.

The team have been taking the ‘You Can Make a Difference’ campaign to 650 talks to date, reaching over 100,000 staff and students throughout the UK to highlight that no matter what their role, everyone working in Health and Social Care Services has the potential to transform the lives and experiences of people with dementia and their carers, often in seemingly small ways.

You can read all the over 16,000 pledges on our pledge page and see our ‘You Can Make a Difference’ case studies.

In June 2017, Dementia Carer Voices launched its publication analysing 6,000 of the pledges we have received in the three years running the project. The key messages were around the importance of time in delivering compassionate care for health and social care staff and students.

Irene Oldfather – Director says:

” Dementia Carer Voices new leaflet describes how we can move forward to ensure that we put people at the centre by asking what matters to them, that we listen with heart to ensure that we action what they tell us and what we put rights at the centre of everything we do.
Using our 5 steps to change model we look forward to working with carers, health and social care professionals and those living with dementia to transform care.
Looking to 2018, we look forward to taking our message to communities, care homes, universities and hospital across Scotland to ensure a rights based approach to care with compassion”

Tommy Whitelaw – UK Lead says:

” We are so very lucky to be meeting health and social care professionals and students all across the country on our Make a Difference Tour and Campaign.
We hope our new 5 Steps to Change Flyer and initiative will support turning good intentions (pledges) into purposeful actions”

If you have been inspired to make a pledge, please get in touch and email us your pledge at dementiacarervoices@alliance-scotland.org.uk

If you have made a pledge and want to share how you have made a difference, see our inspirational ‘What Matters to You?’ case studies.

Download our brand new 5 Steps to Change Flyer to help support turning pledges into actions.

Dementia Carer Voices – 5 Steps to Change Flyer

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Type: pdf / Size: 528 KB

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Dementia Carer Voices – Pledge Case Studies

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Dementia Carer Voices - Pledge Case Studies

Type: pdf / Size: 1 MB

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Dementia Carer Voices – Rights and the Carer Voice

Report

Dementia Carer Voices - Rights and the Carer Voice Publication 2017

Type: pdf / Size: 2 MB

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Dementia Carer Voices WMTY Case Studies & Podcasts

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Dementia Carer Voices WMTY Case Studies & Podcasts

Type: pdf / Size: 421 KB

Thanks for reading my blog, You can now view my 8 short flims here! http://tommy-on-tour-2011.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/my-mums-name-was-joan-this-is-our-story.html DCV photo DementiaCarerRGBlandscape3_zpsa2f3d5ff.jpg

DCV photo DementiaCarerRGBlandscape3_zpsa2f3d5ff.jpg

Thursday, 1 August 2019

The summary report from last year’s ‘What Matters to You?’ Day is now available to download.

‘What Matters to You?’ Day takes place every year on the 6^th June. The principles of ‘What Matters to You?’ have had a huge influence on our Dementia Carer Voices project and, in particular, our You Can Make A Difference campaign.

Our UK Project Lead Tommy Whitelaw sits on the working group alongside colleagues from across the third sector. In sessions with health and social care staff and students across the UK, Tommy has shared the importance of building relationships and making time for meaningful ‘What Matters to You?’ conversations.

The new report is now available to read on the ‘What Matters to You?’ website (this link will take you away from our website.

Team DCV spent last year’s ‘What Matters to You?’ Day launching a pledge tree and visiting staff and students across Ayrshire and Arran.

And it’s not too late to get involved in this year’s activities. You can register and find resources here (this link will take you away from our website).

Make a Difference Campain Peolpe Places and 23,000 Pledges

The Dementia Carer Voices project’s You Can Make A Difference campaign is coming to an end having collected 23,000 pledges.

Over the last five and a half years, Dementia Carer Voices has held improvement sessions with students and health and social care staff in hospitals, care homes, universities and colleges across the UK.

In the process, we have engaged with around 170,000 people at nearly 900 talks, collecting 23,000 pledges to make a difference – all of which are available to read on our website.

These pledges encompass practical improvements in the workplace, as well as more personal reflections.

“I will never forget, even when the people I care for do, who they are and what matters to them. LOVE ALWAYS WINS! Set the standards high.”
“My pledge is to be someone’s voice when they are unable to speak.”
“I pledge to get to know a person by their name, their story, and not as the person with dementia.”
“I pledge to never forget the privilege it is to be part of someone’s journey.”
“I pledge to continue to visit my patients who are lonely and encourage them to fulfil their potential and listen to their stories. Their past teaches us how to be better human beings.”
“I pledge to make Gran (a retired nurse who has dementia) proud. And to never stop learning from the people I meet.”
“My pledge is to treat everyone I care for with the same respect, love and care I would give my own loved ones.”

Our Rights and the Carer Voice publication also highlighted some of the barriers people face when trying to fulfil their pledge. The most common themes were a lack of time, a lack of resource and workplace pressure. An amazing 45% of people, however, reported that nothing would stop them making a difference.

You can read about how some of these 23,000 pledges have been turned into meaningful actions on the Case Study section of our website. Following on from our improvement sessions overnight rooms and dementia friendly lounges have been created, ‘What Matters to You?’ boards have been put up in wards and patients have been married in hospital.

So keep in touch and let us know how you are getting on with your pledges. If you have any examples of having turned your good intentions into purposeful actions, we’d love to hear from you. Please email any stories you would like to share to dementiacarervoices@alliance-scotland.org.uk

We plan to produce a legacy report very soon, summarising more of the outcomes from our You Can Make A Difference campaign including feedback from a selection of our partners.

We’re really excited as a team to begin the next stages of our work, building on the learning from our pledge campaign. Although we will not be collecting pledges anymore, our improvement sessions will continue as a part of our new campaign. We plan to carry on our partnership work with Glasgow City HSCP whilst continuing to analyse the poetry we received last year in partnership with the University of Glasgow. And we have a few more exciting announcements to make soon too – so keep an eye on the Dementia Carer Voices section of the ALLIANCE website for updates over the coming months!

Monday, 18 February 2019

It Started with a Song ( Concert for Caring )

It started with a song, it ends with a song

Growing up like most in Glasgow, New Year’s parties at home ended with songs. I used to watch and listen to my dad sing songs from Perry Como, to Frank Sinatra, to Roberta Flack. And anytime he sung a love song, no matter how crowded a room, his eyes fixed solely to my mum with a love for each other I’m so glad I witnessed. Parties when I was young always finished with a song.

Many years later I worked in music, travelling the world for over 25 years with many different artists and bands. That’s where I first met Mark from Regular Music and HIPSWAY, who will be arranging and playing at our Concert for Caring on April 6^th. My working days and nights both started and finished with songs.

After 25 years touring, I returned to Glasgow for a short break at first for myself, then unexpectedly and unprepared to care for my late mum Joan who lived the last years of her life with dementia.

During our darkest days over those nearly six years, when my mum was often scared and I felt quite hopeless and we felt alone, by accident and wishing my dad was here to help us, I sang to my mum one morning, a Perry Como song ‘For the Good Times’. My mum’s eyes lit up and I knew, I knew in my heart mum was remembering my dad and suddenly we both felt less alone, less scared and I felt less hopeless. And every time from then on when either of us was scared I would sing one of those songs.

Since my mum’s passing, as part of my role as UK Project Lead at the ALLIANCE I’ve been on a tour across the UK giving more than 850 talks to approximately 170,000 people. 22,500 people have pledged to make a difference, celebrating people, champions, who dedicate their lives to care for others. Every talk on that tour has ended with a song.

This tour ends on the last day of March 2019 and part of our ALLIANCE Concert for Caring is to celebrate the people we have met along with the songs.

On April 6^th 2019 at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, I suppose in many ways it all started with a song and it will end with a song.

Come and join us and sing for love, kindness, care and celebrate people in song. Let’s end the evening together in song.

Friday, 1 February 2019

Celebrating 20,000 Peolpe ,Place and pedges Making a difference

We are so very honoured to announce that more than 20,000 individuals, hospitals, universities, colleges, care homes and hospices have now added personal pledges to our ‘You Can Make a Difference’ campaign. This is a wonderful milestone to reach and would not be possible without the commitment and passion of everyone who attends our talks, reads about our campaign and pledges to make a difference to the lives of people with dementia and their carers. We have reached over 150,000 people across more than 750 talks and have met so many remarkable people so far.

These 20,000 pledges are from a personal perspective so each of them is unique and from the heart. 20,000 people have stopped and reflected on what they can do in their lives to make a difference. And no matter what your role, everyone has the potential to transform the lives and experiences of people with dementia and their carers, often in seemingly small ways.

I’d like to thank my teammates Irene, Laura and Matthew and all of the amazing people we have met on our You Can Make a Difference tour.

We are constantly inspired by the remarkable people that we meet, the knowledge, skill, dedication and care we witness and the incredible ways people turn pledges into actions. Thank you to each and every one of you.

We are really proud to be able to work with the Chief Nursing Officer for Scotland Professor Fiona McQueen (this link will take you away from our website), and the Chief Nursing Officer for England Professor Jane Cummings (this link will take you away from our website), sharing key messages from both and feeding back on the aims and outcomes of the people we have met.

You can read all of the pledges we have received so far on our website, as well as our pledge case studies, most recent publication and 5 Steps to Change resource.

The campaign will continue throughout the year. If you have been inspired to make a pledge yourself, you can email us at dementiacarervoices@alliance-scotland.org.uk

We’d love to hear how you plan to make a difference!

We have published a press release for this landmark here on the Dementia Carer Voices website.

Master Pledge Page

EVERY PERSON ,EVERY PLACE ,EVERY PLEDGE BELOW

September 2018

04/09/18 University of Stirling 2nd Year Nursing 2018

05/09/18 University Hospital Aintree Pledges

10/09/18 Pledges from West Lothian College

18/09/18 New College Lanarkshire Pledge to Make a Difference

20/09/18 Returning to West Lothian College

August 2018

02/08/18 Making a Difference at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Glasgow