MINUTES OFMEETING ON MONDAY 9 SEPTEMBER 2013

1)Matters arising from the Notes of our last meeting on 8 July 2013 that are not covered in the Agenda.

We acknowledged the progress being made with Dementia Friendly Rothwell and Otley and the work that had started in Moor Allerton. The hope was that they (especially Rothwell at the moment) could be used as a marker for other areas of Leeds becoming dementia friendly.

We discussed the possibility of having a formal launch event for the DAA and a high profile Leeds event perhaps in Dementia Awareness Week in May 2014.

A written specification and a Job Description were in the course of being prepared for the DAA Development post. LOPF had been identified as the Group to take this issue forward as it combines well with some of the other work that they are doing at the moment with elderly people. A meeting will be organised soon between TS and the Forum to take this issue forward towards the recruitment process and interviews for the post.

PR said that he was doing an awareness raising talk to the Black Sheep Explorer Scouts based at St Chads in Headingley on 11 September. This was in response to a discussion about how younger people could be involved around dementia friendly communities.

PS said that two safe havens for people with dementia had been established in Rothwell.

2)Report from Dementia Friendly Communities meeting in London. Peter Smith.

PS said that his trip to London had been interesting. There had been lots of hype with posters, banners and giving out of literature. Those attending were mostly professionals and PS felt that overall there was a lack of awareness of dementia and the issues around it. The presentations were up front but lacked content. Some issues discussed were around a Dementia Friendly Financial Services Charter, presentations from the Lloyds Banking Group and BT and talk about future funding. Dementia awareness is a key issue going forward as many people with dementia lack knowledge of the disease and live in isolation unaware of what supports and services are available.

The Health and Social Care systems are currently under pressure and the needs of carers must be taken into consideration. PS said that it was useful to hear what other areas were doing but a lot of them were struggling to get off the ground. We seem to be ahead of the game in Leeds which is encouraging. Angela Rippon made a very positive contribution to the day’s events.

3)Recognition process for Dementia Friendly Communities. Tim.

This has now been launched and we are part of the Early Adopters Scheme. There are seven criteria for us to meet. Amongst other things we need now to give a six-monthly update on the progress that we are making followed by a fuller annual report.

4)Update on the Yorkshire and Humber Alliance including current members with connections to Leeds actual, committed and proposed. Simon.

Taking a broad view Simon said that a significant issue at the moment was around what Dementia Friendly Communities are able to achieve and what would best help them achieve it. He said that it was about changing the attitudes of people towards dementia and then building out from there. Simon’s view was that Yorkshire and Humber region were ahead of most other areas with the progress that was being made. A good number of organisations based in Leeds or having connections to the city had already signed up to be Alliance members or were either committed to do so or proposing to sign up.

5)How do we get more areas of Leeds to be dementia friendly? All.

It was felt that going forward around the areas of Leeds covered by NNS (37) or the Council constituencies (33) would be the best way to proceed. Leeds is simply too big a city to try to make it all dementia friendly so the DAA could best operate as an umbrella group steering the various parts of the city towards becoming and then continuing to be dementia friendly.

It was important as in Rothwell to have a local, committed and enthusiastic individual to drive things forward and to make the contacts necessary to create a dementia friendly community. Getting good publicity locally was also vital.

Successes can build further successes and a momentum can be built up but people must retain their enthusiasm even if we get rejections and cannot get everyone on board. We need to find ways of helping people with dementia and their carers to come forward so that they can be helped and supported.

6)Using Dementia Friends and Dementia Friends Champions to raise awareness of dementia in Leeds. Peter R.

As part of the Society’s Dementia Friends initiative a number of people were being trained as Champions which would then allow them to go out into their local communities to raise awareness and increase knowledge of dementia. PR said that he was already aware of a number of Champions who lived in Leeds (not their names though) and another Champions training session was taking place in Leeds on 12 September which was likely to bring forward more people as Champions. A process within the Society would need to be followed but PR was confident that he would be able to make contact with all of the Champions to see if they would be prepared to come on board and work with us around the city in creating dementia friendly communities.

7)Increasing the number of awareness talks that we give in Leeds. What can members of this group do to achieve this aim? All.

The number of awareness raising talks was increasing and we were also getting the opportunity to talk to people and organisations where we had found difficulties in getting through their door in the past. We have been giving these talks to the Police, supermarkets, pharmacies, financial institutions, libraries, Trading Standards and First Bus.

Overwhelmingly these talks have been well received but we need to do as many of them as we possibly can to help increase awareness and knowledge of dementia. Group members were asked to take every opportunity to encourage organisations to put their names forward to receive one of our Talks.

8)Database in Leeds for supports and services for people with dementia and their carers and the organisations that provide them. Peter R.

The Society has an internal database of organisations and services called Dementia Connect and there are plans for it to go live on the National Website early in 2014. PR said that hopefully this will give us the opportunity to get as many organisations and the services that they provide onto Dementia Connect which would be able to be searched for supports and services in the city by inserting a Leeds postcode. Potentially this could complement other databases in the city like the Leeds Directory.

9)How do we involve people with dementia and their carers in the Leeds DAA?

This is always difficult to achieve as we must avoid token gestures and box-ticking exercises. People with dementia and carers have been on our Group in the past but it is not always the optimum way for them to be involved and to make a meaningful contribution.

Some people with dementia and their carers are happy to get involved with media presentations but not everyone is comfortable with that. Equally many people with dementia and their carers are not keen to join groups and committees. It was suggested that perhaps they could visit shops and other services in their local area and offer advice and suggestions about being dementia friendly. Equally they could review organisations that had signed up to be dementia friendly and report back on the progress that they were making. They could act as “mystery shoppers” to see how dementia friendly their locality and services in it actually were. Many people with dementia often struggle in large groups but Leeds Involving People have an Involvement Group for people with dementia including those from BME Groups so we could work together with them canvassing views and opinions around dementia friendly communities.

10)Frequency and content of future meetings. Should we set up a Steering Group that meets more regularly than we do at the moment? Tim

The suggestion is that we have a small(ish) Steering Group that meets monthly or six-weekly with a larger Members Group meeting less often but having themed events and speakers. The key question now is who will be on the Steering Group and this will be discussed and considered over the coming weeks. Tim and Ted would meet together with Adam Ogilvie to look at the possible make-up of the Steering Group. Input to this process from current Group members was encouraged.

11)Any other business.

a)We discussed the use of the publicity stickers which form part of the Early Adopters Scheme. Some of them are already in use around Rothwell. More details are available on the DAA Website but the consensus of the meeting seemed to be that displaying a sticker was a commitment to the dementia friendly process and not just a publicity thing. It was also felt that it was good that a number of organisations signed up to be dementia friendly but perhaps receipt of an awareness raising talk would be a minimum standard before organisations could join and display any publicity about being dementia friendly.

b)Dementia Friendly Communities must not forget people with dementia who live alone or are isolated for any reason. Leeds Involving People is doing good work in this area. Carers must also not be forgotten and it was suggested that they might be willing to sign up as Dementia Friends and Champions.

c)Ted said that he, Tim and Adam Ogilvie would discuss the involvement of the Neighbourhood Networks Schemes with the organisations themselves with a view to having them support Dementia Friendly Communities and to paying a pivotal role in creating them in the areas of Leeds where they operated.

It was also considered important to reach out to other groups operating around the city including Faith Groups and look to a variety of different people to take the lead role in setting up and promoting Dementia Friendly Communities.

d)It was suggested that using the Planning and Design Departments of the Council to get big Companies on board with good dementia signage might be a positive way to proceed and also to use DDA compliance as a way to get good and appropriate signs on business premises including shops and supermarkets.

e)We could encourage Dementia Champions in businesses and venues including Dementia Friendly GP Practices.