Dementia Care

Starting before it becomes a crisis

Most families call us after something has gone wrong: a pan left on the hob, a dose of tablets taken twice, a night when the front door was found open. Support works far better when it starts before that point, while the person can still take part in deciding how it should work.

Routine does most of the work

Dementia takes away the ability to hold a plan in mind, and a predictable day fills that gap. We keep visits at the same times, with the same people, doing things in the same order — the tea in the same mug, the tablets after breakfast rather than before. It sounds like a small thing. It is the single most useful thing we do.

The difficult moments

Repeated questions, refusing personal care, agitation in the late afternoon, not recognising a son or daughter — these are the illness, not behaviour to be corrected. Our carers are trained to work out what sits behind the moment instead of arguing with it. Someone who will not get dressed is often cold, in pain, or embarrassed. We look for that first.

Knowing the person, not just the diagnosis

Before care starts we sit down with the family and put together a life story — where they worked, who is in the photographs, what music they danced to, what they cannot stand. A carer who knows a man drove lorries for thirty years has something to talk about on a bad morning. A carer who does not is a stranger in the kitchen.

Keeping family in the picture

Carers write up every visit, and family can read those notes — including relatives too far away to call in. If we notice a change, such as eating less, sleeping more, or a new unsteadiness on the stairs, we tell you at the time rather than at the next review.

As things change

Dementia is progressive, and support that fits this year will not fit next year. We review the care plan every six months and whenever something shifts, so the change is picked up by us rather than left for you to notice and act on.