Dementia should be made a top health priority on a par with cancer and lung disease, a leading expert has said, after it was described as the next global “time bomb”. Professor Peter Piot, former Under-Secretary General of the United Nations, compared dementia to the AIDs epidemic and said one person is diagnosed with the mental illness every seven seconds.
Dementia and its symptoms
Dementia’ is a term used to describe the symptoms that occur when the brain is affected by specific diseases and conditions. It is an umbrella term used to describe the effects of closely linked diseases. These include Alzheimer’s disease and sometimes are the result of a stroke. Dementia is progressive, which means the symptoms will gradually get worse. How fast dementia progresses will depend on the individual. Each person is unique and will experience dementia in their own way. There are approximately 750,000 people in the UK with dementia.
Symptoms and how we can help
Below are just some of the symptoms that our service will manage and seek to reduce where possible:
Stepping Out offers the client regular guidance, support and prompts; the semi-independent project will provide a 24 hour on site staff member whom is able to offer timely aid. In General the regular use of planning documents such as weekly activity plans, shopping lists, goal setting plans, timetables, visual image based tool etc. will aid the client remember important tasks. The plans can be posted around the client’s private living area in order to aid the client’s memory.
Stepping Out ensure its staff members receive regular training on effective communication, where they are able to understand a client’s feelings via certain behaviour and or body language, eye contact and tone of voice. Our staff are trained to actively listen to clients whilst positioning themselves accordingly as to not cause any distress, tension or anxiety to the client. Visual tools and other interactive communication aids are to be used in order to ensure effective communication. Staff members must employ patience and always ensure they communicate with respect towards the client.
Our staff members receive regular training on managing challenging behaviour. Importantly a client with dementia may display challenging behaviour due to feeling distressed, anxious and or frustrated. At such times, staff members must provide proactive, dedicated 1-1 support and use communication methods best suited to the client in order to alleviate the client’s anxieties. Various rules and boundaries have been put in to place that clients must adhere to. Our Company operates a no physical contact/physical intervention policy. This means we will not physically restrain and or challenge a client. If the clients behaviour becomes aggressive and or unmanageable and once we have exhausted all means of calming and effectively communicating with the client, our staff members are instructed to contact the local police whom will work to stabilise the clients behaviour. The client will be made aware of this and will be introduced to our project rules and the boundaries that must be adhered to on initial placement with of course regular reminders.
Stepping Out is a registered and regulated (CQC) independent social care provider delivering person centred care services to children, young people and adults meeting the range of low through to critical high support, high supervision needs.Stepping Out has built a great reputation for providing specialised up-to 24 hour semi-independent living options for adults and young people.
We provide Services to:
The type of clients we accommodate and support have varying needs to include:
In order to make a referral and or to obtain further information about our company please contact us using the information provided below:
Stepping Out, 439 Green Lanes, London, N4 1HA
020 8342 7217
Home care, live-in care or domiciliary care means receiving the care and support you need at your own home, at your preferred times.
Often, receiving care means having to leave home and move into a care setting or facility. In some cases, this can be distressing. Additionally, not everybody needs 24 hours of supervision and care. The benefits of home care and support services, is that we allow the service user the familiarity and comfort of their home whilst they receive the support they need.
Stepping Out can visit your home for a duration of just half an hour, all the way up to 24 hour live-in care, depending on your needs.
For more information on what we can assist you with, and our methods of doing so, visit our Home Care page, or call 0208 342 7217.
Personalisation simply put allows a client or service user to fully self-plan their care and support packages. In the past a service user would have needed to obtain permission and or ask if their support plan could be changed, this would have meant corresponding with social workers, service provider and other professionals. Although this may still be the case, a service user now has more control over their lives, they can plan to have a carer visit at different times of the day or stay longer on specific days in order to support with a planned activity.
The service user can generally plan to use their personal budget in a more flexible less rigid way than before. For example Stepping Out recently supported a client to draw up a thorough support/care plan. The client wanted more free time in the afternoons in order to socialise with friends but wanted to be supported in order to do so, previously the client informed us that it was an issue visiting friends due to the lack of support and so this meant the client’s social life had become negatively affected. The personalised plan was set up in order to incorporate the client’s direct needs and wishes whilst ensuring the direct payment/personal budget was used in a cost effective, flexible manner.
If you’d like us to support you with your personal support plan please contact us for a free quote, it is also possible to purchase support planning tools via our online store.