The East Dunbartonshire Advisory Clinic Model: Better outcomes for people affected by dementia

Performance Indicators

One of the initial challenges for this innovative approach to dementia care was the need to harness valuable resources to avoid several organisations and bodies overlapping and all putting much needed resource into the same tasks on an individual basis. By sharing the task, the customer receives the best range of information from the specialist services to cater for the multi-faceted needs that dementia brings to people and their families. Through working to enable people with dementia we promote self management at an early stage of the condition, more confident carers and anticipatory planning to avoid unnecessary crisis. This also contributes to a more efficient use of existing service and avoids additional costs that arise from emergencies. The savings made by each organisation can then be used in other ways to develop new and innovative ways of working. One such initiative is a project developed by East Dunbartonshire where people with dementia in care settings engaged with tablet personal computers to promote self- expression, target loneliness and stay connected to the community.   

The Council and its partners have also benefited from the international and national recognition and prestige that the initiative has received. In June 2012 this unique work received a commendation at the International Dementia Excellence Awards in Sydney, Australia. The Clinics are also used as an example of best practice by the Scottish Government’s Joint Improvement Team on models of co-production which support the transforming older people services agenda. Furthermore, the Dementia Advisory Model is being supported by the Scottish Government’s Ready for Business programme in developing a model to evidence culture change in this area and in particular in securing added value to the public sector through the third sector. The work is now being further developed through asset mapping and identifying resilience in the context of dementia through a funded PhD.