The ALLIANCE are currently undergoing a process to update our website.Join our focus groups to gather thoughts and views

The ALLIANCE are currently undergoing a process to update and redesign our website.  

We are holding three focus groups to gather thoughts and views on:

• How do you currently use the ALLIANCE site?
• What other sites do you use that you think are well designed or laid out / informative / accessible?
• Your experiences of using the ALLIANCE website
• How can we use the site to better engage with you / What would you like to see in a new site?

We are keen to hear from as many people who use our website as possible so we can develop and design a site that is fit for our members and wider stakeholders.

The focus groups will be held at the ALLIANCE office on the following three dates:

• Focus Group 1 – Monday 21^st November, 2pm – 3.30pm
• Focus Group 2 – Wednesday 23^rd November, 10am – 11.30am
• Focus Group 3 – Tuesday 29^th November, 10.30am – 12pm

Register your place by emailing event@alliance-scotland.org.uk.

Honored - Speaking RCN Northamptonshire branch Conference on Dementia Dec 5th

         RCN Northamptonshire 

       Centenary Dementia Conference

Hi 

With great thanks to Rachel Morris for the kind invite 

To celebrate the Royal College of Nursing's 100th anniversary in 2016, the RCN Northamptonshire branch has organised this special free learning event, which is focusing on dementia and includes one of the stars of RCN Congress 2016, Tommy Whitelaw.

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Speakers include:

• Tommy Whitelaw - Dementia campaigner
• Jules Osmany - Red Lippy Lady
• Dawne Garrett - RCN Nursing Lead for Care of Older People and Dementia
• Hilda Hayo - Chief Admiral Nurse/CEO for Dementia UK
• Debbie Wigley - Learning Disability Liaison Nurse, Northampton General Hospital
• Dr Sarah Vince,  A&E Consultant, and Jill Garratt, Dementia Liaison Nurse (both from Northampton General Hospital)
• Karen Wesley, Lead Dementia Therapist, Northampton General Hospital

There will also be presentations from Dementia Buddies, Northamptonshire Carers and the Alzheimer’s Society.
Lunch will be provided for delegates, but places at the Conference are limited, so book now to avoid disappointment.
Reserve your place here
If you have any queries about this event, please contact Rachel Morris by email - rachel.morris@ngh.nhs.uk.

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

Honored speaking dementia ambassadors event Arbroath - 7th November,

Hi  With great thanks to Yvonne Manson @YvonneSManson  Dementia development lead Balhousie Care Group for the kind invite to attend the next dementia ambassador event to meet with the ambassadors,learn about the great work that they do and give a talk on our make a difference campaign 
Really looking forward to meeting everyone Monkbarns care home Arbroath - 7th November, 

Tommy 

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

A great Honour to be returning Musgrove Park Hospital for 4 talks and a catch up on the pledges

Hi 

A big Thank you to Hayley Peters, Executive Director of Patient Care,  Andrea Bohun, Dementia & Frailty Projects Support Officer and The Dementia Teamand AND Phil Shelley, Hotel Services Manager.for the kind invite back to visit for 4 talks and to meet staff who made pledges earlier this year 

i am really  looking forward to returning and hearing all about how pledges have been turned in to practice and to meet more of the teams at the 4 talks 

you can read about the visit earlier this year below

tommy    

Tuesday 19th January 2016 saw Tommy having the great honor to speak to staff at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton, Somerset.

Thank you to Hayley Peters, Executive Director of Patient Care and Phil Shelley, Hotel Services Manager.  This invite came after Tommy met Phil when speaking at the Hospital Caterers Association Forum earlier in 2015.

Massive thanks to Andrea Bohun, Dementia & Frailty Projects Support Officer and The Dementia Team at Musgrove Park Hospital for arranging the inspiring day.

Tommy spoke about his experiences as a carer for his mother, the campaign and inspired everyone to make a pledge to make a difference to their patients living with dementia.

Left to right: Andrea Bohun, Dementia Project Support Officer;  Sam Barrell, Chief Executive, Hayley Peters, Director of Patient Care; Karen Holden, Dementia & Frailty Projects Lead and Tommy Whitlaw, Project Engagement Lead for Dementia Carer Voices.

Musgrove Park Hospital were so inspired by Tommy`s story and the work of the project that they have put up pledge tress around the hospital as a reminder that they can make a difference to the lives of the people they care for and also showing the great work they do.

Below is pledges we received on our pledge cards from the day.  Grab a cup of tea and have a read!

I pledge to carry on thinking of others and to find empathy think about what they must be feeling – Amanda Hall

I pledge to support, hold hands, wipe away tears; learn about the person and their families. Never let/allow anyone to think they are alone.  Do what I can to make life easy and never let you down.  Always be there – Amanda Scott

I pledge to take the time to recognise when people need to be given more time, support, love & kindness – Amy Stanley

I pledge not to expect carers and patients to accept and have to navigate through the failings in the healthcare system which I will try to help change/improve.

I pledge to ensure the people I care for can preserve their identity for as long as possible and that each and every person I care for gets the empathy and kindness I would want for my family.

I pledge to ask how I can help.

I pledge to gain more knowledge and understanding on people’s backgrounds and life stories – Callum jones

I pledge to continue to listen and to speak to our patients as human beings and an individual not just as a number or just another patients – Charmaine Griffiths

I pledge to always listen to the person and remember who they really are; not just an illness – Charmaine stone

I pledge to walk with you, smile with you, listen and always care – Chloe Sandercock

I pledge to hold the hand of those with dementia and those who care – Christine brewer

I pledge to make a difference in someone’s life, being the right person at the right moment and offer my support and compassion in their healing pathway – Cristina Mateescu

I pledge to look into your eyes and see the person you were. Try and take away the feeling of being scared; allow you to smile again and see your husband, wife, son, and daughter smile with you – Debbie sage

I pledge to never to lose sight, to take time with each patient and learn their story and to REALLY make a difference – Emma Wilreid

I pledge to remember the importance of not only the needs of the patient with dementia, but also their carers –Giuseppe Porfido

I pledge to listen to patient’s needs. Take care about then and ask about their family – to do what is in the best interest for them all – Irene Romiti

I pledge to take time to listen and understand the “person”.

I pledge to listen and ask what matters to you – Jessica Hands

I pledge to always listen to anybody that wants to talk to me and care about what they say – Jodie Perrin

I pledge to gain knowledge on how I could help to support friends or family with regards to dementia – John Simon

I pledge to listen, education, improve – Jon Smith

My pledge is to listen and share the stories I hear about through my work that help people understand more about dementia and being a carer – Jonathan Yelland

I pledge to listen – but not just to listen but to hear – Julie Salisbury

I pledge to give support and empathy to carers. Provide information and refer on to other services when needed.

I pledge to listen, make more time. Don’t forget that the patient is a person – Katy Ratcliffe

I pledge to go the extra mild with every patient I meet or speak to on the phone; everyone is entitled to a voice – I think it’s so important we listen to it – Kelly Fearn

I pledge to listen and find out about the individuals I care for and their families and carers – Kirsti Adams

I pledge to complete my nursing degree and fulfil the promise I made to my late Nan who had dementia, which was to care and be kind to everyone I meet – Laura Selwood

I pledge to play my role here at MPH in making the best environment for patients and their carers and families affected by dementia – Lisa Harty

I pledge to treat everyone as an individual and not a number. Listen to what people need and not what I think they need – Lisa Moore

I pledge to always ask the questions that will let me understand who you are and how I can help and respect you – Lisbeth Dean

I pledge to be aware of people who are a carer or are affected by dementia and try to help them in any way.

I pledge to love, honour and treat people with kindness and compassion in the same way I would for the people I love – Luan Kmita

I pledge to care for all in work and out of work.

I pledge to make a difference by pursuing a holistic approach in nursing, seeing a person and not a disease or a medical condition – Mbemba Jawneh

I pledge to take time to listen to each and every one of my patient’s stories, even when it feels like there is no spare time in the day – Mel pinner

I pledge to make a difference when and where possible –Mike Ware

My pledge is to continue to support people affected by dementia – Nicole Flatts

My pledge is to always remember how scared our patients and carers are when they come into hospital. Inspire others to be the same, new staff, and be a good role model – Pippa Richards

I pledge to take more time and to listen to my family and be more understanding.

I pledge to treat those around me with kindness and respect. Take the time to listen to people’s stories. Make a difference in any way I can – Rachel vile

I pledge to always ask about them as a person; past experiences, happy and sad moments, family and hobbies – Rebecca Thomas

I pledge to pursue an attitude that reflects the understanding that the way I communicate and behave towards those affected by dementia really does make a difference to their lives – Samuel Ricca

I pledge to do the best I can for every patient I meet. Remembering key elements; dignity and respect.  To sympathise where there is fear.

I pledge at work to get the “This is Me” document completed. At home visit my ex-neighbour with dementia more often – Staff Nurse Bedley

I pledge to find out more about the stories of the people I meet – Steven power

I pledge to take the time to get to know the person that I see on the ward – Sue Chattell

I pledge to always make sure that I can do everything possible to ensure everyone under my care feels safe –Tom Nunn

I pledge to encourage person centred conversations – discovering what matters and who matters in a kind and understanding way – Viv Henderson

I pledge to always be kind, human and have an understanding ear and always think about how my patients feels – Wendy Male

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

Register Here European Pillar of Social Rights - EESC Seminar Glasgow November 2nd

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), are looking to hear your views on the issues addressed in the European Commission’s communication for a European Pillar of Social Rights  at a seminar on 2 Novermber In the Lighthouse  in Glasgow from 1-5pm.

Despite the outcome of the referendum in the UK, and despite the fact that the European Commission proposals are aimed at the Euro area, the issues at the centre of the European Pillar of Social Rights – the future of work and ageing Europe, equal access to employment, working conditions, and social protection and services – remain central to the concerns of UK trade unions, employers’ organisations and civil society.

The seminar, run in partnership with EESC, SCVO and the ALLIANCE, including speakers from the European Commission, and Scottish and UK Government.  To register to attend, please click here (deadline for registration: 30 October).

We would be grateful you would respond to our online survey, if you can or can not attend the seminar, please click here . Deadline for submitting your responses to the survey is 28 October at noon.

For further questions contact John Power john.power@eesc.europa.eu and Carlotta Isabella IapichinoCarlotta.Iapichino@eesc.europa.eu

More information on the European Pillar of Social Rights, as announced by the European Commission President Juncker in his State of the Union speech to the European Parliament on 9 September 2015 is available here .

More information on the European Pillar of Social Rights, as announced by the European Commission President Juncker in his State of the Union speech to the European Parliament on 9 September 2015 is available here 

For more information, please contact:

Charlotta Iapichino on Carlotta.Iapichino@eesc.europa.eu

1 p.m.-2 p.m.	Registration and lunch
2 p.m.-3 p.m.	Welcome and opening statements Chair: Irene Oldfather, EESC member Angela Constance MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Communities, Social Security and Equalities. Scottish Government Representative UK government representative (tbc)
	Overview of the European Pillar of Social Rights Judy McKnight, EESC member Graham Blythe, Head of Office, European Commission.  Representation in Edinburgh  Special Envoy Prof. Alan Miller, Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions
3 p.m.-3.15 p.m.	Coffee break
3 p.m.-4.50 p.m.	Conversational Café on the European Pillar of Social Rights: What do you consider to be the most urgent economic and social challenges in the UK and Europe, following the vote on Brexit? What is needed to address these? What do you think should be done to tackle the problems facing employment and the world of work in the UK and Europe, meeting the needs of workers, job seekers, employers and enterprises? How can social protection and social security systems be properly resourced and made fit for purpose? What do we need to promote and sustain a cohesive society and address inequalities?
4.50 p.m.-5 p.m.	Closing remarks and next steps John Walker, EESC member

NSS Local Intelligence Support Team

Local intelligence support is tailored and responsive to meet local needs and priorities. It aims to have a positive impact on your strategic commissioning plans. This work builds on NSS ISD developments including the Health and Social Care Data Integration and Intelligence Project and the Integrated Resource Framework.

The LIST team were asked to do a piece of work with the Dementia Carer Voices, and we were happy to go along to the ALLIANCE and meet with Tommy, irene    and the team to see if we could help.  From the outset it was quite apparent how passionate Tommy is about the Dementia Carer Voices’ ‘You Can Make a Difference’ campaign and this rubs off on everyone around him. For those who have been to one of his talks they will have filled in a pledge card (a personal pledge on how you could do one thing to make a difference for someone with dementia and their families), now multiply that card by the thousands and this is where we came in.

Dementia Carer Voices saw the value in these pledges and didn’t want them lost so started typing them into a document and posting them on the website.  They then wondered if they could possibly be used in some other way to see if there were any patterns forming in job roles etc.  We, the NSS Local Intelligence Support Team place information specialists to work on-sites with Health and Social Care Partnerships, Community Planning Partnerships and Local Authorities.
Through LIST our partners gain access to a wide range of services to help inform an evidence base for decision making. These include outcomes monitoring, benchmarking, data validation, dataset design, statistical analysis, interpretation, data visualisation and data management.  Contact LIST for more information

We discussed the needs/wants with ALLIANCE and subsequently LIST created an analysis tool for the project to help them capture the thousands of pledges they have collected from carers and various health professionals throughout the UK.  The tool also helps to categorise the free text data from the pledges.  The structured grouping of pledges will allow analysis to be carried out, with an aim to provide meaningful outputs to be shared with a wide variety of audiences.
Going forward and with many more pledges still coming in we are happy to continue working with the ALLIANCE in the hope of delivering meaningful outputs which matches the hard work carried out by the Dementia Carer Voices project.
Themina Mohammed (LIST, NSS) & Susan Crawford (Scottish Cancer Trials & Research Unit, NSS)
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

A great Honour invited to speak to staff Picker Institute Europe October 27th

Hi 

with great thanks to Andrew McCulloch, Chief Executive and all the team at the Picker Institute Europe  for inviting me  to speak to all staff  on October 27th  

I have had the privilege to speak with and meet many of the team at events on my tour and feel so very honored to be invited to speak at a staff seminar 

i look very much forward to meeting everyone on the day 

about The Picker Institute

The Picker Institute is an international charity working across social and health care. Established in 2000, the organisation continues to have a significant impact in the field of person and family centred care.

We use patient experience of healthcare to identify priorities in delivering the highest care quality. We measure experiences to uncover incidences of excellent and poor healthcare delivery. We work across health and social care systems to support organisations to improve the quality of patient care.

Our approach underpins quality measurement in both the USA and the UK with the ‘Picker Principles of Care’ an internationally renowned quality improvement framework.

Whether it’s designing and delivering the first national NHS patient experience survey in England, co-ordinating the largest staff survey in Europe, pioneering innovative improvement interventions such as Always Events®, or working with individual providers and healthcare commissioners to improve service delivery, we are committed to sharing our knowledge and expertise, alongside developing new services and tools that enable people’s experiences to be an integral part of delivering the highest quality care for all, always.

Always Events is a registered trademark of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

http://www.pickereurope.org/


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

View New Induction Film with Healthwatch Essex, Broomfield Hospital and Dementia Carer Voices.

                                


Hi 

I am so very honoured to have take part in this new staff Induction film with Healthwatch Essex and Broomfield Hospital 

you can view the film via the link at the bottom of the page 

Sophie Blythe from Healthwatch Essex’s Engagement Team

I first met Tommy in June 2015 when I invited him to speak at our annual Healthwatch Essex Ambassador event.  I had been forwarded a link to one of his films and, from that moment, I knew that we absolutely had to work with him!  Since then, Healthwatch Essex and Dementia Carer Voices have worked on a couple of projects together, the latest being our ‘Putting care into dementia care’ training film – soon to be embedded in Mid Essex Hospital Trust’s induction training programme.

Around the time we first worked with Tommy, Healthwatch Essex launched a free Dementia Handbook for carers, which brought together information about the sources of care and support in Essex available to people who are living with dementia and their carers. This was developed in response to a piece of research we had conducted not long before, where we discovered that people experienced difficulty and confusion when trying to find out about care and support services.

Later on that year, we launched our Carer’s project, to raise awareness of the issues affecting carers in Essex. The findings of one of our reports “Carers Said” has since been used as evidence by the Department of Health. One of our first ventures for this project was our ‘Carers’ Journey’.  We invited Tommy back to join us on a three-day road trip of Essex in our Chatterbox cab, delivering a series of talks at hospitals, care providers, carers groups and universities. We used Tommy’s powerful story to highlight the importance and value of listening to people’s lived experience of services, in order to find ways to improve them. Hundreds of health and care professionals made pledges of small actions to make a difference to the lives of patients and their carers.

Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford took part in our ‘Carers Journey’ tour. We were impressed with the exciting projects and activities going on at the Hospital, for example their Forget-Me-Not garden, designed to offer a calm, sensory space to support people diagnosed with dementia. The team at Broomfield were keen to collaborate with us to develop their work even further, and that is where the idea for a training film was conceived.

So earlier this year we invited Tommy back to Essex and spent a day filming discussions and interviews with nurses, matrons and dementia specialists at Broomfield hospital. Linking these clips to parts of Tommy’s powerful talk, and featuring testimonies from staff, the film illustrates how listening to the patient’s story can inspire innovations in person-centred care. By taking the time to find out more about the person, and what matters to them, we can communicate more effectively with them, develop meaningful activity plans and better understand their needs and wishes.

As an organisation, Healthwatch Essex believes the best services are those that are developed and delivered by listening to people and using that lived experience to help shape them. This training film harnesses the passion and drive of Tommy and the staff at Broomfield Hospital and demonstrates how health and care professionals can make their patient’s (and carer’s) experience the best it can possibly be.

Tommy will be back once again to launch the film at our ‘Premiere’ on 28^th September at Broomfield Hospital. It has been a fantastic experience working with such passionate and committed people. We urge all health and care professionals to watch it and learn from it and put into practice. Can you be that person to make a difference?

You Can View the Film Here ‘Putting care into dementia care’ training film is a collaboration between Healthwatch Essex, Broomfield Hospital and Tommy Whitelaw, from Dementia Carer Voices.

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

Do you support or look after someone with dementia? University of Glasgow would like to hear your views

Do you support or look after someone with dementia?  If so, researchers at the University of Glasgow would like to hear your views.

We would be seeking you  to take part in a single focus group. This would be to discuss the experiences of carers of people with dementia in finding, arranging and using care and services and would last 2 hours at most. A £10 gift voucher would be offered to participants and travel expenses would also be refunded. If you are interested and would like more information please contact Kathryn Saunderson: email Kathryn.saunderson@gla.ac.uk , phone 0141 330 8322.

Attached is a flyer with further details about the project and how to get  glasgow-university-research-flyer