1. “Guess what? You can still live well with dementia”
Developing Kent into a ‘Dementia Friendly Community’

2. Prime Minister’s Dementia Challenge
Kent Dementia Action Alliance
Building on existing good practice
Genuine participation to ensure all improvement is grounded in the needs and aspirations of people living with dementia in Kent
REFERENCE GROUP
Increasing awareness
New ways of working
Clinical Commissioning Groups / Health & Well-Being Boards / Local Forums
12 + Dementia Friendly Communities across Kent
Dementia Friendly Kent web platform

3. Developing Kent into a ‘Dementia Friendly Community’

4. Developing Kent into a ‘Dementia Friendly Community’

5. Challenges / Risks
Working in silos – services, sectors, disciplines - language
Blinkered research – not learning from other sectors
Resistance to change – wanting to to the same old thing again
Stigma – amongst public and professionals
Complexity – impatience – competing aspirations - assumptions – hierarchy

6. Achievements

7. Achievements
Developing Kent into a ‘Dementia Friendly Community’

8. Conclusions from Kent Take a whole system approach
Find common language – open source - accessible to everyone -
images, colour, interests, real people doing real things
Build on existing good practice
New collaborations – diverse perspectives – work the networks
Increase awareness and understanding
Challenge assumptions and stereotypes – person not illness
New and old ways of working
Iterative - start small – always test – always deliver quality
Genuine participation
Reciprocal relationships – earn trust by noticing what matters

9. KSS Conclusions
Working alongside people living with dementia, their families and carers and professionals in this field, is the only way to develop a dementia friendly community
Learning – from existing projects and lived experiences
Flexibility – time frames, innovation and experimentation
A practitioner network better equips us to share good practice, challenge local obstacles, be more informed, easier to signpost
Genuine collaboration – engagement, partnership, collaboration - critical for a successful outcome
Social movement - coalition of the willing
Surrey local conclusions
Public engagement, local partnership and co-design are critical to a successful outcome
Make room for flexible approaches i.e. Innovation fund to help you learn from and meet the needs of the community
Learn from other projects / your own experiences
Crawley local conclusions
Takes time – working as a wide and eclectic alliance has so many positives but it can slow the process down and needs patience
It takes resources – but not necessarily money – to pull together and have ongoing momentum
Needs to be flexible and ensure that people living with dementia, their families and carers are involved and at the centre
Joint conclusions
having a network wider than where you work means you are better equipped to challenge some of the local obstacles by presenting evidence of how others are working differently
Always useful to work collaboratively – been enjoyable, don’t feel on your own, professional support
Better informed and networked - able to better signpost for people that live close to District or County borders
Informal peer review – check back, ‘compare notes’, discuss challenges and share what has worked well
All agree: working alongside people living with dementia, their families and carers, and professionals working in this field, is the ONLY way to develop a dementia friendly community

10. Thank You @SILKteam silk.team@kent.gov.uk
And finally … today!
#DementiaDiaries
@DementiaDiaries
Thank