To be at the Markel 3rd Sector Care Awards, and in the same room as several hundred of the UK’s most respected social care providers, was a remarkable and humbling experience. For our day clubs to then win the national award for dementia care was wonderful recognition for the hardworking and inspirational teams that run our clubs in Wiltshire.
Taking initiative
My involvement in dementia care, and the driving factors behind our service as it is now, came from assisting a friend with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. At the age of 48 and physically fit, he was offered (and duly refused) a place in a care home which highlighted to me the frustrations of finding appropriate frontline dementia care. Around the same time, I was asked to apply for a two-day a week post to develop a day club for Alzheimer’s Support Wiltshire, something I was supremely underqualified for, but it happened.
A lack of experience and a brave, supportive Chief Executive Officer led me into asking a lot of ‘why is it like this?’ questions and reaching the conclusion that neither my friend, myself or anyone else would want to go to a ‘Dementia day club’. So, the mission became how do we build a club that no one wants to come to but would enjoy if they did – and that is what we built. I was supported, thankfully, by a very experienced, very patient and forgiving team. A team given full permission to be themselves, given ownership of their space, allowed to follow their hearts and to treat people as they would wish to be treated themselves.
Sixteen years on, that two-day a week club has morphed into four dementia day centres in Wiltshire: Mill Street in Trowbridge, Sidmouth Street in Devizes, Old Silk Works in Warminster and Scots Lane in Salisbury, which together provide 17 days of care each week. We have 45 salaried and part-time staff and 60 highly committed volunteers.
Ethos of choice and empowerment
Anyone visiting our clubs is struck by the genuine friendship between members, staff and volunteers. There are no uniforms or badges. Although the teams are highly experienced in dementia care, they do not dwell on the dementia, other than as part of the fuller understanding of the person’s preferences, character and background. Visitors to the club always remark on the relaxed, informal and uplifting atmosphere, and while they are with us, we treat members as a group of friends coming together.
The clubs are underpinned by our ethos of choice and empowerment, enabling members to pursue interests and retain skills, and creating connections – with each other, between clubs and families and between clubs and their local communities. Inclusivity is also a cornerstone and the team go the extra mile to enable members to remain with us as their dementia progresses.
Each space is carefully chosen close to, or in, a town centre, rented on a long lease and renovated to our own design thanks to successful community fundraising appeals. The buzz we generate around a new club helps local people feel invested and involved even before it opens (great for finding volunteers). The exceptional quality of our interiors was confirmed when our Warminster club, Old Silk Works, won Best Dementia Design at the National Dementia Awards in 2019.
Each club includes a spacious communal area, quiet lounges and indoor or outdoor gardens. All are bright, colourful, well-maintained spaces that reflect the positive experiences of the members attending. We make sure they are filled with art, objects and photographs which reflect members’ lives now and in the past.
Fresh meals are cooked daily in the club kitchens and everyone eats together. No one takes a break at lunchtime. Members can assist with cooking and the two newest clubs, Old Silk Works and Scots Lane in Salisbury, have specially designed open plan kitchens with a long, low counter to encourage participation and involvement. No area is out of bounds to members (except cleaning cupboards). Members return home with a detailed diary of their day which gives family carers an idea of what their relative has done and sparks conversations.
Therapy whippets Higby and Dottie, and a carefully selected group of other volunteer dogs, wander free range in the clubs, spreading their own brand of love and helping to build the atmosphere of relaxed normality. Their non-judgemental listening ears provide support to people who may find it hard to integrate initially. And club members whose dementia may have forced them to give up a pet can groom, stroke, talk to and about the dogs, just as any group of animal lovers might do.
Going the extra mile
When new members join, staff take the time to get to know them well, talking to family members as appropriate and sometimes visiting at home. Joining is a gradual process with short visits, or coming in for lunch, to build up familiarity and to find out more about individual preferences. The teams constantly develop new activities in response to members’ interests and accommodate people who wish to ‘do their own thing’ in the company of others. High staff and volunteer ratios allow us to do this.
As people find it harder to be active in their communities, the clubs bring the communities in. Most club days include visits – from musicians (lots of singing and dancing), artists, poets, choirs, special interest groups, churches, museums and many school children and college and university students. Each club has a long-term connection with local primary and further education and the presence of young people brings real joy to club members.
More widely, the work of the clubs informs the practice of local healthcare professionals. Our doors are always open and we love to share our approach. Social work students on placement, local GPs, NHS care co-ordinators and dementia nurses have all found inspiration in our practice.
Robust support network
Family carers are fully involved in our work. The team understand the pressures on families and make time to talk through issues that may arise at home, offering informal emotional support and advice as needed. Families often tell us how invaluable this is in keeping them going as carers. Husbands, wives, partners, adult children and grandchildren of all ages are welcomed into the life of the club and encouraged to spend time with us if they wish to do so.
Particularly in the early days, it is an effective way to reassure a family carer that their loved one is having a good time. The ‘family’ feel of the club extends to social media where wider families are highly engaged with club news and photographs. Many families form friendships through the day clubs for mutual support.
Doing things differently
Not everyone has ‘got’ what we do over the years or understood both the bigger picture and also very small elements of care that we pay attention to and insist on. My best compliment came very early on in developing the clubs. A somewhat traditional ‘from past times’ health professional visited, surveyed the room and exclaimed, ‘I don’t know what you are doing – it’s all chaos!’ I have quoted that ever since.
We embrace the chaos of life, the laughter, the friendships, the difficulties of being human and the infinitely different characters that come through our doors. And, somehow, we make it a club where people with dementia do want to be.
The 10th annual Markel 3rd Sector Care Awards ceremony took place Friday 15th March 2024. For the full list of finalists and winners, visit CMM’s dedicated website.
Grant Newton is Head of Day Care at Alzheimer’s Support. Email: [email protected]