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The making of a dementia-friendly community
Areas for local action
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What defines a dementia-friendly community? Click to read
for local action (See pop-up left). Now there are over 152 communities in England recognised as dementia-friendly (the Alzheimer’s Society only covers England so they only report figures for England) and in 2018 there were over two and a half million ‘dementia friends’ who are active in their local communities. The publication of PAS 1365 sparked a widespread global interest in this area, especially from countries which face a similar aging demographic as the UK does, such as Japan. ““The worldwide shift in population distribution towards older ages presents a set of new challenges for organizations, and we need to address this demographic transition,” said Rob. “In the UK it is estimated that around one million people will have dementia by 2025. Research into a cure is vital but is also important to improve the quality of life of those people who live with it.”
ISO 25552: Ageing society, framework
A fast track standard was developed, with a steering group bringing together representatives from the transport sector (First Group), Lloyds Bank, the Local Government Association, London Fire Brigade, Public Health England and the Mental Health Foundation. Importantly, it also included people with dementia and their carers. PAS 1365 - Code of practice for
the recognition of dementia-friendly communities, was published in 2015 offering guidance for community stakeholder groups
seeking to create a dementia friendly environment. “The idea is that in a dementia-friendly community, individuals, local businesses and organizations work together to improve the quality of life for people with dementia,” said Rob Turpin, BSI’s Head of Sector for Healthcare. “To do this we realized we had to engage public services, retailers, banks, in fact any facility that people might use in their daily routine.” The standard provides a process-based framework for becoming a dementia-friendly
community and provides guidance on how to maintain it and continuously improve. It also provides a set of requirements for the design of a dementia-inclusive network, and provides information on areas for action and how to integrate them.
An important element of the standard
was for communities to be able to gain recognition for becoming dementia-friendly. An eight-step process was put in place that communities can follow to work towards official recognition from the Alzheimer’s Society. Step six of that is to identify areas
Rob Turpin
for dementia-inclusive communities was published in March this year. It closely follows the format of PAS 1365; how to develop a dementia-inclusive community; outcomes; enabling factors; how to create a support network; and how to bring organizations together. “This is a real success story for the UK,” said Rob. “We’ve shared the best practice and knowledge from PAS 1365 with the international community to create an international standard and we’re supporting our own government’s ambitions to improve the lives of people with dementia and their carers.”
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