Dementia Support appoints University of Chichester to evaluate their dementia services so that they can help shape services across the UK. The Charity is making such a difference to people’s lives locally and believe that the evaluation will evidence its real impact so that better dementia services become available for more people nationally.
Sally Tabbner, CEO noted, “We hear time after time from the people we support that Sage House makes such a difference to their lives and that of their family. It has always been the ambition of Dementia Support to use Sage House as a template in other communities across the country so that as many people as possible benefit from the amazing support that is on offer.
The appointment of University of Chichester, marks an important milestone in our ambitions to work with other communities to grow and support people living with dementia, their families, and carers, as there is still so much more that is needed and to do.”
Firstly, we want to be clear that Sage House remains very much a priority for us, and it will not be going anywhere – apart from growing as it continues to thrive and be increasingly busy! As we are emerging from the pandemic, we are back to providing our unique wrap around service, in partnership with others, supporting people on their journey and the demand for services in the local area continues to grow. Sage House Tangmere will remain our centre of excellence and a beacon of best practice.
Sage House in Tangmere provides wrap around support for all people living with dementia in partnership with statutory, community and voluntary partners. In stark contrast to what is generally available, our innovative approach brings all dementia services into one welcoming, accessible, and inclusive hub that puts the needs of those affected at the heart of what they do.
Academic evaluation:
The evaluation will compare the impact on the quality of life for customers, family members and carers; review the difference in outcomes in relation to the 5 ways to wellbeing: Connection, Being Active, Taking Notice, Learning and Giving – compared to those without access to this service.
It will evaluate the customer and carer satisfaction levels of services and examine the social impact upon the local and wider community.
A key part of the evaluation will be to examine and demonstrate the financial benefit to the NHS and social care economy of the services.
Researcher Dr Rachel King, from the University of Chichester, said: “If we follow World Alzheimer’s recommendations, the most effective approach to delivering high-quality and effective healthcare is to shift to post-diagnostic support services based in primary and community-led care.”
"Dementia Support’s promising new model aligns with World Alzheimer’s recommendations and is implemented in a comprehensive and integrated hub at Sage House. This continuity of care and wraparound support has the potential to improve wellbeing not only for individuals living with dementia but also for their care givers. Our review will identify whether this model provides better quality-of-life outcomes compared to the existing non-integrative model, and will evaluate whether it is cost effective.”
Next steps
Sally Tabbner went on to say, “In the UK there are around 900,000 people with dementia, with numbers set to rise to over 1 million in the next couple of years. In the next 25 years this will soar to 2 million. Having designed and developed our unique community hub, we want to share our learning and journey with other communities and give everyone the opportunity to make sure their local area has access to the support that people living with dementia need.”
The evaluation will complete an interim report in the spring of 2023, and a final report at the close of 2023.