Dementia care
Who should benefit from use of communal space?
The amount of freedom that people living with dementia have in communal care settings to define how they use their space can be a critical measure of how much the staff understand and practice person centred care and support, says Tanya Clover, Clove Care Consultancy
I am fortunate enough to have visited and worked in some amazing care settings for people living with dementia, both in the UK and Australia. I see intelligently designed spaces with access to landscaped gardens and themed walkways. Internally there are cinemas, coffee shops, bars and beauty salons. We have certainly come a long way from the institutions and the endless dog leg corridors of the not so distant past. Not so much “one size fits all” as “never mind the size so long as we can get as many bedrooms in as possible”. While austere Victoriana and refurbished chaos are in the past, there remains work to do. I moved house two years ago. As soon
as I moved in, I changed how the spaces in the house had been used by the previous owners to suit my own needs and lifestyle. A dining room has become a study, a play room is now a bedroom. We redefine what our space is for by the way that we choose to use it. Freedom of choice is easy when you live alone. In group living, and on scale, definition and harmony can be a challenge. I often ask service managers and staff
supporting people living with dementia to identify why a room may have become a lounge or a dining space. Who does the designation or layout of space benefit? It is an interesting question, and one that often generates great conversations and critical reflection. One great conversation lead is to ask
what the purpose or benefit is for residents to be brought into shared spaces such as the lounge. Do they
Tom’s meaningful experience was disrupted when others were brought into the space
spend their day in the lounge because the space provides opportunities for engagement and fulfillment? Or do they spend their day in the lounge because, well, it is a nice lounge? The amount of freedom that people living with dementia have in communal care settings to define how they use their space can be a critical measure of how much the staff understand and practice person centred care and support. I have been working in a particular care
setting, and the wider organisation, to support a move towards more person
Who does the designation or layout of space benefit? It is an interesting question, and one that often generates great conversations and critical reflection
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centred practice. I have been using a range of tools including Dementia Care Mapping (DCM) to identify great care and support and to highlight opportunities for change. DCM is an observational tool that was
designed to be used within formal care settings such as care homes, nursing homes, day services and hospitals. Used successfully both nationally and internationally, DCM has helped organisations to implement and embed person centred practice. The Care Quality Commission’s audit tool Short Observational Tool for Inspection (SOFI) is based on DCM; DCM and SOFI are both underpinned by the same person centred values.1
Case study Tom is a fit and active man in his late 50s. He lives with frontotemporal dementia and was admitted to the care setting some six weeks ago when his previous
www.thecarehomeenvi ronment .com • January 2017
©kagemusha/Fotolia; Vasily Smirnov/Fotolia; Deyan Georgiev
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