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Care Campaign for the Vulnerable believes material benefits will be realised in both operational services and as a result of Dementia Care Village design. Read here:- https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/mind/dementia-villages-could-future-alzheimers-care/

From a design perspective, the focus is on small group living (some providers have designed houses of six, each with its own kitchen and lounge areas). Apparently, residents assessment will include compatibility to live with housemates, to participate in domestic aspects of shared house life, to work with staff and other residents in the management of the house, to be allocated chores with a real focus on maintaining mobility and independence.

The presence of on-site shopping facilities within the secure perimeter will allow much greater freedoms for those who want to wander. Residents can move around the site at all times of the day given overall site security is guaranteed. The use of technology (including wearables) and safety monitoring equipment will allow staff to supervise residents using GPS, without the need to constantly seek to physically direct them to an allocated place as within a traditional care home.

Existing care homes generally operate under one roofline with a large number of individual rooms within one registration. Residents are as a result, by and large naturally restricted in terms of movement and participation in day to day activities. Containment is a prerequisite to ensure resident safety, yet the desire that dementia patients often have to wander is then subsequently curtailed.

The design is much more domestic in feel, with a throwback and retro feel for furnishings that are familiar for patients. With all houses built around the perimeter of the site and with the shopping areas and other facilities in the centre, designed pathways should allow residents complete freedom to roam the site day or night. GPS consented wearables will ensure safety monitoring and location is known to site staff. Camera technologies will promote unobtrusive monitoring and radar technologies with two-way audio will assist with providing reassurance remotely when required.

Some of the very latest designs we have seen are incredibly exciting and offer a blueprint that has been successfully tried and tested in other parts of the world.Dementia care issues often start with underfunding. In a number of northern regions for example, dementia patients in residential care homes often receive funding that equates to less than £80 a day. That just isn’t sufficient to meet all care needs, all accommodation costs and importantly allow providers to professional carer contracts and provide an excellent salary to attract and retain committed care workers. Staffing remains a material issue. Successive Governments over the years pared back nursing intakes to the point where not enough nurses are now coming out of universities to meet demand. That situation, combined with an already implemented policy of firing staff who were not double jabbed, is further compounded by the very slow pace of international recruitment, as Government did not react swiftly enough to acknowledge both the serious shortfall and the exodus of staff following Brexit.

The sector has suffered from low public opinion and political apathy. To give you an example, CCFTV has for many years sought to promote the use of safety monitoring. We created a petition for such and struggled to get to 10,000 signatures simply because no one really cares about the plight of older people, other than their families. (Compare that to the petition for an ex PM’s going to be cancelled). The sector is not generally considered in a good light because of the scandals that are very regularly reported in our newspapers and on our screens.

Some excellent care is delivered in places but not reported because that doesn’t create headlines. It doesn’t help that providers have not embraced safety monitoring and therefore many of the issues that create concern and are reported as abuse, continue to put off potential staff recruits. Families who want reassurance that loved ones are well cared for continue to have no answers but 'unexplained injuries’. Dementia residents suffer more than most, as they have no ability often to articulate their concerns. Camera technologies would improve regulation and inspection, create trust with families and remove poor providers from the sector. In a nutshell, dementia patients would benefit from a much higher level of safeguarding and public trust and confidence would improve.

Funding generally comes from the independent or charitable sectors. Sadly most planned villages are in the South East of England or in areas that are considered to have a wealth index that would ensure many of the village residents can self-fund. Alas, that again means that those who cannot afford to pay will ultimately not benefit from the outcomes that village life appears to provide unless Government suddenly decides to adequately fund social care.

The recently announced NI tax increase will not be funnelled into social care until such times as the NHS has caught up with the current waiting list backlog. That means the vast majority of residents living in care homes, will see little or no change for very many years. As the dementia demographic time bomb ticks louder and louder it appears inevitable that only at severe crisis points will any Government respond to this very predictable impending disaster.