New Luton Dementia Service Will Support Care Homes

Launch of new service in Luton, supporting care homes caring for people with a diagnosis of Dementia.

Bedfordshire Dementia Intensive Support Service has been awarded temporary funding until the end of the financial year to support Care Homes in Luton caring for people with a diagnosis of dementia. The funding has been awarded by NHS England to support discharge flow across the health and social care system.

The Dementia Intensive Support Service is (DISS) well established across Bedfordshire. This funding will enable the service to expand certain functions of the service into Luton to offer a 7-day DISS service into the Luton Care Homes until the end of March.

A small dedicated bespoke multidisciplinary team for Luton Care Homes will offer advice, consultation, assessment and interventions for people in a crisis who may be at risk of requiring acute general hospital or mental health hospital admission. They aim to prevent hospital admission by providing support to the care home, and support discharge planning when the individual is ready to leave hospital and return to their care home.

The service will also offer Luton care home staff training on BPSD  Behavioural & Psychological Symptoms of Dementia) and Practical Dementia Awareness training for carers.

This is an exciting opportunity for the service to expand elements of its practice into Luton and has been well received by our system partners.

The service will commence on 3 January 2023.

For more information, please contact Marie Ansah-Johnson, Operational Manager on elft.diss@nhs.net

Article from East London NHS Foundation Trust