Faces of SaTH: Our Dementia Team

This week our Faces of SaTH post is a little different, as it highlights the wonderful work that our Dementia Team do.

Pictured left to right we have Karen Breese (Dementia Nurse), Lucy Davies (Dementia Support Worker), Sarah Brown (Dementia Support Worker) and Sarah Selley (Dementia Support Worker).

The Dementia Team’s role involves screening all patients who are 75 and over and have been admitted to our hospitals as an emergency admission. The team also support staff, patients and carers living with dementia, use our Butterfly Scheme and REACH approach, create “patient passports” for those living with dementia and encourage the use of dementia-friendly aids such as snack boxes and droplet beakers.

We asked them a bit more about their roles..

“Our day starts with a team huddle - this is done via the phone as the team are across both hospital sites. We then visit the Emergency Department to check for potential patients with Dementia. After this, we start our screening - we have a target to screen 90% of patients who meet the criteria each month. We have recently moved to using iPads for this, which is really speeding up the process!

“In the afternoons we go and see patients living with dementia – we have bleeps for areas to get hold of us and also have carer’s packs and calling cards to leave with those who may need us, as we have so many people in the hospital to see! We also hold dementia friendly cafes three times a month across sites - those living with dementia can attend these to meet others and gain support. No two days are the same, which makes the role so much more interesting”

When we asked the team what their favourite parts of the job were, they replied “Making a difference for people living with Dementia and carers, supporting teams to understand how dementia affects patients, using role modelling, patient-centred approaches and the Butterfly scheme to help patients… and sharing a smile!”

“We are doing our best with the resources we have but so much more to come, we are constantly working towards being a dementia-friendly organisation”

Outside of work, the team are kept busy by their families, team walks and raising money for the Dementia Appeal!
Wonderful work ladies!!

For more information about the Team please visit https://www.sath.nhs.uk/wards-services/az-services/dementia/