A dementia-friendly housing Charter Vanessa Pritchard-Wilkes

Contents Overview of Housing & Care 21 Context for the dementia challenge PM Champion Group The Housing Charter The Commitment Statements Signing up to the Charter Questions

Housing & Care 21… Mission: Support independence and choice for older people through the provision of quality housing, care and support Formed in 1964 by the Royal British Legion. 1992, we became Housing 21… In 2014, we became Housing & Care 21 Largest not-for-profit Extra Care provider Court manager on every court Extra Care 143 courts 5,701 properties 45,200 care hours per week Retirement Housing 336 courts 12,362 properties 5 specialist dementia units and

Where it all began… The Context Alzheimer’s Society has been at the forefront of creating dementia-friendly communities, working with governments and members such as the Dementia Action Alliance. In 2009 The Department of Health launched the first ever National Dementia Strategy for England. Alzheimer's Society worked closely with the government to develop the Strategy. At Alzheimer’s Society we have positioned ourselves throughout the years as a leading organisation on dementia, and we were lucky to be the leading role on delivering the Prime Minister’s Challenge on Dementia, which was a major priority of our Prime Minster to tackle the issue of dementia here in the UK. The Prime Minister’s challenge on dementia had three main areas for action: driving improvements in health and care, creating dementia-friendly communities and improving dementia research. As a result of this challenge, we created a Dementia Friends programme to help raise understanding on an individual level, and encourage social action we formed a PM Champion group to deliver actions on the objectives in the PM Challenge created a Dementia Friendly Communities programme to ensure that people with dementia feel understood, valued and able to contribute to their community Following the success of the Prime Minister’s Challenge on dementia 2012, the Prime Minister’s Challenge on dementia 2020 was created.

Where we are now 2012 20 communities working to become dementia friendly 10% of England covered by a Local Dementia Action Alliance Low awareness and understanding Low Local Authority engagement 2016 205 communities working to become dementia friendly 75% of England is covered by a Local Dementia Action Alliance 1.7m Dementia Friends 55 Local Authorities currently registered under DAA and DFC

Prime Minister’s Champion Group People affected by dementia PMCG Steering Group Home services Entertainment, Leisure and Recreation Young People Communities Financial Services Transport Businesses and Organisations Public Services Assistive Technologies Maintaining Personal Wellbeing Schools Faith Groups Financial Services – Rail Dementia Friendly Employers Emergency Services – Housing Sport and leisure Universities Rural Communities – Insurance Air Transport Dementia Friendly Retail Local Authority Services PMCG Steering group consists of: Thematic Group chairs, Regional and National Reps (North, Central, South, NI, Scotland and Wales), Dementia Friends Champion and associated Alzheimer’s Society staff. Energy, Water and telephony Arts Youth Groups Legal GP practices

Prime Minister’s Champion Group y Prime Minister’s Champion Group Current outputs: Dementia friendly Financial Services Charter Dementia friendly Employers’ Guide Dementia friendly Arts Venue Guide Dementia friendly Technology Charter Accessing and Sharing Information publication Maintaining Personal Wellbeing pledge Dementia friendly Retail Guide Dementia Friendly Church Guide Upcoming projects/outputs: Housing Charter Dementia friendly Faith Guide Dementia friendly Heritage Guide Dementia friendly Cinema Guide Dementia friendly Air Transport Dementia friendly Sport Venues Guide Two thirds of people living with dementia live in the community with one third living on their own

The Housing Charter Bringing together existing resources and research Aimed at Supporting older people with dementia to live independently Helping housing professionals in their support of people living with dementia in their own homes Provide access to The knowledge to plan and prepare for future projects, developments and services by influencing initial design and planning of future housing stock Knowledge and resources to make relevant ongoing adaptations and repairs to current housing stock to support people with dementia; Encourages organisations to make or improve existing action plans in order to future proof their organisations and services Explains how and why housing and housing related services can improve the lives of those living with dementia, and their families and carers; facilitate consistency and good practice

Structure of the Charter Places People Processes Staff who manage properties, landlords, including modifications, adaptations, repairs, home maintenance and handyperson services, architects and planners. Creation, maintenance of housing including space and design of the interior and exterior of buildings, areas around buildings and their location. Retrofitting of existing housing. Housing systems and infrastructure, planning, design and development, and housing related services such as repairs, maintenance, adaptations and management.

The range of stakeholders Explanation Occupations Designing and building   From inception, through design to ‘ready to occupy’ Planners, architects, building control, facilities or property management, builders, surveyors, designers, developers. Managing and supporting The daily running activities of all housing tenures Landlords, developers, housing managers and officers, court/scheme managers, occupational health, facilities or property management. Modifying and adapting The modification, repair and adaption of housing and the built environment to meet changing needs Occupational therapists, community equipment or telecare providers, handypersons, environmental health officers, home improvement agencies, builders, technical officers and architects

Commitment statements Issue Potential responses Commitments to identifying people affected by dementia who need support Organisations don’t understand the challenge which dementia places on services Become a dementia-friendly organisation Diagnosis is often at the point of crisis   Training and guidance for staff particularly in the front line to be able to identify the signs of dementia and know how to seek support for early diagnosis as appropriate Develop a signposting pathway for the local area Organisations face challenges communicating with people affected by dementia and responding to their needs Ensure staff are aware of advice and advocacy services locally to support people with dementia to make decisions Produce information and guidance in easy accessible formats for people with dementia on the services and facilities available and how they are provided Ensure staff are aware of techniques and approaches that engage people with dementia

Commitment statements People Commitments to identifying people affected by dementia who need support Commitments to understanding Commitments to signposting/navigation/advice and information Place Commitments to navigation / setting Commitments to raising awareness Processes Commitments to applicability Commitments to communication Greater information and support for people with dementia to access housing options

What does committing to the Charter mean? 1 Publicly sign up to the Charter and commitments: Sign up through the Alzheimer’s Society website Publicly announce your intention to deliver on the relevant Charter commitment statements Specific actions should be incorporated into the Dementia Action Alliance action plan if applicable  2 Deliver the commitments specific to your stakeholder group within a set, individually determined and planned time-frame: Selection of a senior member of staff to champion the initiative and ensure that the appropriate delivery plan is established and progressed Evidence and reporting back  on progress and outcomes of the identified commitment statements Housing stakeholders should act as ambassadors for dementia-friendly communities and build relationships with local stakeholders to encourage them to adopt dementia-friendly practices  

Resources Dementia Words Matters http://www.dementiaaction.org.uk/dementiawords   Department of Health (2009) Living well with dementia: A national dementia strategy Housing LIN http://www.housinglin.org.uk/Topics/browse/HousingandDementia/ Health Environmental Research and Design Journal: Impact of the design of the built environment on people with dementia: an evidence based review http://her.sagepub.com/content/8/1/127.long Guinness Partnership (2015): Becoming a dementia-friendly organisation http://www.guinnesspartnership.com/care-services/community/becoming-dementia-friendly-organisation/

Questions? Vanessa.pritchard-wilkes@housingandcare21.co.uk 0300 7901830