Alumni celebration event

Earlier this month we were delighted to welcome back some of the alumni from our Postgraduate Certificate in Person-Centred Dementia Studies to help us celebrate a wonderful milestone, the course has been running successfully for five years! Although the course is fully-online we decided to make the celebration event hybrid to enable some of the former students to meet in person – possibly for the first time! It was also great to see Dr Izzie Latham, one of our former Module Leads who has since moved on to pastures new, and our current External Examiner Dr Ian Davies-Abbott, but we were sad that a couple of other current and former colleagues weren’t able to join us for various reasons.

Everyone was welcomed to the event by Course Lead Dr Chris Russell who set the scene for the day and gave an update on the state of the field of dementia studies, covering some of the key topics that have arisen recently and highlighting new reports and resources that our former students might find interesting. He concluded his section by drawing attention to some of the achievements – both academic and extracurricular – of our students, including winning The Hennell Award, taking part in a 100km challenge and presenting their own research at a national conference.

This took us nicely into a session on ‘alumni reflections’ where students were encouraged to share how they have used their learning in practice since completing their studies. Facilitated by Nicola Jacobson-Wright, this session also formed part of a research project that Nicola is currently undertaking on ‘Exploring the impact of research based online pedagogy on dementia care practice’. We had two focus groups in the room and a third one for the online attendees to consider a series of questions posed by Nicola, and we got to hear loads of amazing examples of how our students are putting their learning into practice. Thank you to everyone for being so involved in this session and we look forward to seeing Nicola’s findings in due course.

After lunch, we switched from looking back to looking ahead as we welcomed Dr Shirley Evans, Director of the Association for Dementia Studies, to talk about plans for expanding our offering to become a Masters course and get feedback from the group regarding what they would like from a Masters. This will hopefully help us to develop a course that meets the needs of our students, and maybe we’ll even get some of our PGCert alumni coming back to continue their studies with us…

In the final formal part of the event, Izzie got everyone thinking about what they wish they’d known before starting their studies, and any advice or top tips they wanted to share with new students or those considering starting the PGCert. We had loads of great comments, so once we’ve had a chance to collate them we might be able to share them more widely.

At this point in the day we sadly had to say goodbye to our online attendees before concluding the event with a celebration cake (virtual cake doesn’t work very well!). We also had a chance to grab a group photo with our alumni before everyone headed off. It looked like some new connections were made between students and there was a lot of networking taking place, so who knows what our amazing students will go on to do next!

Course Lead Chris Russell, reflected:

“Everyone in our team is so proud of what the students on the course achieve. Person-centredness runs through their veins! It was such a great pleasure for us to welcome the alumni to the university, to catch up and look ahead to future success together!”  

Thanks to everyone for being part of our celebrations and we look forward to keeping in touch in the future.

If you’re considering starting your studies but have a few questions, why not be part of our online open evening which is taking place 3.30-6.00pm on 29^th April. To book a slot at the open evening, please contact Chris via dementia@worc.ac.uk

Connect with ADS on twitter @DementiaStudies and on Facebook @adsuow 

We’re also on Instagram, Threads and LinkedIn so have a look and find us there too. 

The launch of Meeting Centres Scotland

This week we hear from Dr Shirley Evans, Director of the Association for Dementia Studies, who reflects on her trip to Dundee for the launch of Meeting Centres Scotland on the 25^th March 2024. Over to you Shirley…

A rainy Sunday was spent travelling up to Dundee  from the Welsh Borders for the much anticipated launch of Meeting Centres Scotland. Such a journey involved four trains but it all worked like clockwork and the journey was super-productive. The Premier Inn at which I overnighted is located by the River Tay and only five minutes from the modern and stylish Dundee Station. The short walk involved passing the V & A Dundee and Discovery Point and RRS Discovery. What a shame I was travelling back the following day.

It is amazing to reflect on how Meeting Centres have developed in Scotland since an email from Graham Galloway, then of Kirrie Connections and now Chief Executive Officer of Meeting Centres Scotland, came into our inbox late one Friday evening in November 2017. Graham said that he had been reading about Meeting Centres and that it might fit in with their developments at Kirrie Connection and could he have “a wee chat please?” The rest, as they say, is history.

A short time-line involves Emeritus Professor Dawn Brooker and me travelling up to Kirriemuir for the information and planning group meeting in May 2018. This was followed by Graham and his team visiting Droitwich Spa, Leominster and Powys Meeting Centres in the August on a fact finding mission. Kirrie Connections Meeting Centre opened on the 14th May 2019 and we attended the official launch of Kirrie Connections Meeting Centre in August 2019. The evolution of Meeting Centres in Scotland is documented in our blog dated 3rd March 2022. So only two years ago but much as happened since then, not least the one Meeting Centre becoming 22 with another eight in the pipeline.

The launch of Meeting Centres Scotland was held at the Mal Masion Hotel (other hotels in Dundee are available) and was attended by around 90 people including a significant number of people affected by dementia. This evidenced the Meeting Centres Scotland policy of a third people living with dementia, a third carers and a third other interested parties/stakeholders. The purpose of Meeting Centres Scotland is to support the development and growth of dementia Meeting Centres. They believe in providing innovative and person-centred care for individuals living with dementia and their families. The organisation will serve as a central hub for resources guidance and collaboration for existing and emerging Meeting Centres. They will do this through guidance and training; networking and collaboration; advocacy and awareness and research and evaluation.

It really was a day of celebration and it was wonderful to see ‘old’ friends such as those from Striving Towards a New Day (STAND) including Ruth McCabe seen below sporting their purple uniform. STAND produce some excellent and free resources and have written and recorded an album.

Our very own Dawn Brooker, who is President of Meeting Centres Scotland, was one of the speakers in the morning session joining us online and captured much of the thinking in the room:

Meeting Centres aren’t rocket science… It’s not a lack of evidence. It a lack of funding

Professor Dawn Brooker MBE

And Dawn reminded us that Scotland is the first place, outside of the Netherlands, that has Meeting Centres embedded in their National Dementia Strategy.

Jan Beattie of the Scottish Government Dementia Policy Unit spoke about timing being everything and that Meeting Centres bring something valuable, and stressed the importance of an international evidence base – that this is something really unique and brings reassurance with it.

Other speakers included: Marie Todd, Scottish Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport who joined us online; Geraldine Campbell of the Scottish Government Dementia Policy Unit speaking with Jan Beattie; Katherine Crawford Chief Executive Officer of Age Scotland speaking about the importance of partnership working; Irene Donaldson speaking about the importance of coproduction in Meeting Centres and Graham Galloway and Jim Campbell presenting on the Meeting Centres Scotland website and the online academy just before Ron Coleman’s closing remarks ahead of lunch. Ron emphasised that the principle of a third, a third, a third should not be an aspiration, it should be the reality.

It is easy to have aspirations. If we put it in place we can prove not only that it might work but that it does work

Ron Coleman

A highlight of the morning was a preview of the Meeting Centre documentary. There is more about the making of this film in our blog from last year.

In the afternoon we were treated to a brilliant workshop led by Willy Gilder – ‘My Dream Meeting Centre.’ This was a great workshop where we looked at what is core to a Meeting Centre, what would be nice to have and what is our dream. There is more about this on the Meeting Centres Scotland blog.

The event was hugely inspirational to those of us who are thinking about a Meeting Centres England ‘group’ and Graham and Ron will be speaking about their experience to interested parties from England on the 19th April 2024.

I don’t think I could put it better than Jan Beattie who earlier had said, “Meeting Centres are alive and clearly thriving.”

Thanks Shirley, it sounds like an amazing event. To keep up to date with the work of Meeting Centres Scotland you can find them on Twitter/X at @ScottishMCN. We also try to share their posts via the main Meeting Centre account @MeetingCentres   

Connect with ADS on twitter @DementiaStudies and on Facebook @adsuow 

We’re also on Instagram, Threads and LinkedIn so have a look and find us there too.

Four PhDs on offer

Here at the Association for Dementia Studies we’re pleased to say that we currently have four PhD opportunities on offer. If you’re interested in taking your studies that step further, take a look below and see if one of our PhD topics takes your fancy. Be aware that only the first one is funded, so for the others you would need to be in a position to self-fund your studies.

Funded studentship

Development and Evaluation of a ‘Best Housing’ Assessment Tool for People Living with Dementia in Extra Care Housing

This is a fully-funded, full-time PhD studentship that will seek to understand the reasons and circumstances that lead to people living with dementia moving out of Extra Care Housing, and use those findings to develop, pilot and evaluate an assessment tool. This tool would be for use by Extra Care Housing staff, family and other stakeholders to assist in making decisions about what would be in a resident’s best interests in terms of accommodation and care. For example, considering the interventions required to enable a resident to remain in Extra Care Housing and whether their needs could be better met by relocating to a different form of accommodation.

Director of Studies Dr Julie Barrett says:

“This PhD studentship is ideal for anyone interested in understanding the reasons and circumstances that lead people living with dementia to move out of extra care housing and developing a tool to assist in making decisions about the optimal time to make this move.”

Applications for this PhD close on 3^rd May, so if you like the sound of it you’ve got to get a move on. Take a look at the website for more details and how to apply.

Self-funded projects

Adoption of proprietary home and community automation technologies in support of ageing-in-place

If you’ve got an interest in technology, this PhD may be the one for you.

Technology has the potential to impact significantly on the health and well-being of people affected by dementia. For example, it could reduce social isolation and open up opportunities for engaging in life, learning and leisure. Rather than focusing on technology specifically designed for people living with dementia which some people may find stigmatising or embarrassing if it draws attention to their condition, this PhD considers the role of everyday technology as it is thought that people may be more likely to use it as part of their normal life.

This PhD study will investigate the adoption of proprietary automation technologies used in the home or in the community by people affected by dementia. Possible areas for investigation could include:

• Automation and assistance of everyday tasks.
• Cognitive support to address confusion and assist in memory recall, thinking and planning.
• Adapting the environment to account for behavioural and mood changes.
• The use of automation to support physical activity and/or health and well-being.

Director of the Association for Dementia Studies, Dr Shirley Evans, says:

“This is an exciting opportunity to join our flourishing cohort of PhD students. Everyday technology has so much potential to enhance the lives of people living with dementia but it is under-researched contributing to it not being used as widely or as effectively as it might. Come and join us at the Association for Dementia Studies and make a difference.”

To find out more about this PhD topic and see whether it could be a perfect fit for you, take a look at the website and get in touch.

Measuring the cost-effectiveness of Meeting Centre

If you’ve read the title and aren’t sure what a Meeting Centre is, don’t worry! A Meeting Centre is a local resource, operating out of ordinary community buildings, that offers on-going warm and friendly expert support to people with mild to moderate dementia and their families. At the heart of the Meeting Centre is a social club where people meet to have fun, talk to others and get help that focuses on what they need. Meeting Centres are based on research evidence of what helps people to cope well in adjusting to living with the symptoms and changes that dementia brings.

The Meeting Centres UK network is managed by the us at the Association for Dementia Studies and supports Meeting Centres to collect data. Meeting Centres can then use this data to self-evaluate, as well as inform potential funding bids to help with sustainability. The Association for Dementia Studies also manages a central repository of data from Meeting Centres across the UK.

This studentship will build on previous work to investigate what cost-effectiveness information is required by commissioners of community services, and how this information can best be captured and delivered by Meeting Centres.

Dr Shirley Evans is Director of Studies for this PhD and says:

“This is an exciting opportunity to join our flourishing cohort of PhD students. With over 70 Meeting Centres in the UK there is a vision for one in every town. Key to this is clear evidence of cost-effectiveness which is the focus of this PhD. Come and join us at the Association for Dementia Studies and make a difference.”

If this PhD catches your attention, take a look at the website for more information and details on how to apply.

Pain management for people living with dementia in Extra Care

This PhD project will build on a pilot survey, which found that pain support for people living with dementia in Extra Care Housing schemes and care homes is suboptimal to that for people in other care settings. High numbers of Extra Care Housing staff lack the skills and confidence to support people living with dementia experiencing pain and are unlikely to use guidance or pain assessment tools. Suboptimal pain support is not acceptable and all staff who are responsible for supporting the needs of a person with dementia need to be skilled in this area.

The project will work with Extra Care Housing residents living with and without dementia and compare their pain assessment and management and determine whether those with dementia receive suboptimal pain management. It will also compare residents with dementia in Extra Care Housing with those living in care homes. The PhD will investigate the causes of any differences, the impacts of these, the challenges, successes and good practices around pain management, and staff training and support needs.

Director of Studies Dr Julie Barrett says:

“This would be a great opportunity for someone interested in understanding how best to assess and manage pain in residents living with dementia in extra care housing”

Have you got an interest in this topic? Find out more and how to apply on the website.

Connect with ADS on twitter @DementiaStudies and on Facebook @adsuow We’re also on Instagram, Threads and LinkedIn so have a look and find us there too.

What happened next?

Research can be odd sometimes because you do all the work, create resources to share the findings, share them widely, and hope that they make a difference. We’re trying to change that with some of our recent projects, by finding out what people have actually done with those resources in practice. Have they actually been used? Are they helping people? Are they sat on a shelf somewhere gathering dust?

We’re not expecting to hear that something is the best thing since sliced bread, but even knowing that you shared a booklet with someone and it helped them understand something would be really useful for us. We can see that booklets are being downloaded and videos are being watched, but not what people are doing afterwards.

Basically, once our resources have been released into the wild, what happened next?

There are three sets of resources that we’re currently trying to get some feedback on, all aimed at different settings, so please take a look at the following and see if you’ve used any of them. If you have, a quick bit of feedback via the relevant link would be appreciated!!

Get Real with Meeting Centres

The Get Real project investigated the challenges that face community-based group support for people living with dementia – such as Meeting Centres – in keeping going long term. There are three booklets for different audiences and a series of short video clips available to share the findings. If you’ve used any of them, please let us know by completing this short survey.

For more information on the Get Real with Meeting Centres project or to access any of the resources, please visit the dedicated blog site.

DemECH

The DemECH project looked at various aspects of supporting people living with dementia in Extra Care Housing. As well as the original three booklets, additional videos and an infographic were developed to create a suite of resources for different audiences. Have you used them? If yes, please click the following link to complete the DemECH resources impact evaluation survey.

As a reminder, all of the DemECH resources can be found here.

CHARM

The Care Home Action Researcher-in-Residence Model (CHARM) project aimed to support collaborative research between care homes and researchers, supporting staff, visitors and residents in care homes to design and implement their own unique and meaningful research. The CHARM Framework manual was developed to help guide care homes through the research process. If you’ve used the manual and would be willing to provide some feedback on it, please complete this short survey.

You can download a copy of the CHARM Framework manual from here.

We know that these different resources won’t apply to everyone, but if you’ve used any of them we’d really appreciate you taking a few minutes to let us know if they’re making a difference or not. Thank you!

Connect with ADS on twitter @DementiaStudies and on Facebook @adsuow 

We’re also on Instagram, Threads and LinkedIn so have a look and find us there too. 

Looking forward to looking back

This week we hear from Dr Chris Russell about an exciting event we’ve got coming up soon. Over to you Chris…

Time flies when you’re having fun, and time has certainly shot by since 2019 because, in September, the fully online course we offer, the Postgraduate Certificate in Person-Centred Dementia Studies, will be five years old! To celebrate this, in April, we’re holding an event for alumni from the course.

What tremendous students we have worked alongside over those years; drawn from health, social care and social work, housing, advocacy, and leisure settings (and many more, we’ve even had the great pleasure of working with an opera singer!). It is one of the most rewarding things about working in education, having the opportunity to support individuals realise their goals and develop their passion for practice, particularly when a priority for the course is to enable students to apply their knowledge to lead positive change for people affected by dementia. Over one hundred students have enrolled since the course opened its virtual doors, so you can imagine the sense of anticipation as we look forward to welcoming so many back.

What will await our amazing alumni in April? Well we don’t want to give too much away, but there is a strong suggestion that cake will be on offer… Our gathering will also provide the opportunity to take stock on the contemporary context of dementia. It will be a chance to reflect from the position of each of our attendees on the priorities and challenges that exist within our field. We will also be keen to find out more about how alumni have utilised their learning from the course, and the impact it has had. Then we might do a bit of future gazing, looking ahead together to see what educational opportunities could be put in place to meet the ongoing needs and priorities of our current, former and future students.  

It is a fabulous feeling that the Postgraduate Certificate in Person-Centred Dementia Studies is approaching its fifth birthday. The chance to meet so many of those who have shone throughout that time is something we are all looking forward to. People matter most in the context of dementia and we would struggle to think of a more wonderful group of people with whom to gather, celebrate and look ahead!

Thanks Chris, it sounds like it should be a great event! If your interest in the Postgraduate Certificate has been piqued by this, Chris is hosting an online open evening 3.30-6.00pm on 29^th April, which is a great opportunity for prospective students to ask questions and find out a bit more about the course. To book a slot at the open evening, please contact Chris via dementia@worc.ac.uk

Connect with ADS on twitter @DementiaStudies and on Facebook @adsuow 

We’re also on Instagram, Threads and LinkedIn so have a look and find us there too. 

Crossing the Line – second workshop

Last week the second in-person workshop took place as part of the Crossing the Line project which is looking to develop resources to support family carers providing personal care to a person living with dementia. The first workshop in January was such a great day with lots of input and insight, and the second workshop did not disappoint either.

Professor Tracey Williamson welcomed everyone to the event before inviting Roy Dibble, one of our experts by experience, to talk to the group. Roy set the scene for the day by sharing his story of caring for his wife Ros who is living with Posterior Cortical Atrophy. It was enlightening to hear some of the challenges Roy faced, not just in terms of providing personal care, but also changing dynamics within his relationship with Ros and taking on other responsibilities within the home. We also had a lovely chance to hear about Ros and some of the amazing things she achieved in her life, reminding us of the person behind the dementia.

Following Roy, Dr Shirley Evans provided a brief overview of the Crossing the Line project as a reminder for people who weren’t able to attend the previous workshop, before handing over to Thomas Morton to provide more information about some of the analysis that’s been carried out so far on survey and interview data. As the quantitative survey results had been covered to some extent in the first workshop Thomas just highlighted a few headline results, such as receiving responses from right across the UK.

Thomas also talked about Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA, see the image below), a type of in-depth analysis being used with four interview transcripts and thematic analysis which is being applied across all 28 transcripts. This led nicely into a group activity (it’s almost like we planned it!!) looking at the emerging themes. Each table was encouraged to comment on whether the themes – and the language used – made sense and resonated with their experiences, and to suggest how to describe each theme.

After a brief break, Emeritus Professor Dawn Brooker MBE ran a session focusing on the ‘Really Handy Carers Handbook’ which is currently being developed. The handbook has come a long way since the last workshop, mainly thanks to input from our workshop attendees who have been involved in writing some of the content. It is anticipated that the handbook will have three main sections:

1. Setting the scene
2. A-Z of general issues that impact on personal care in dementia
3. Specific areas of personal care

A group activity looked at some of the existing content from sections 2 and 3 to get feedback on it, help rewrite things that don’t make sense, and identify areas that are missing. It also provided and opportunity to invite volunteers to write any remaining sections.

Kicking off the afternoon session was one of our PhD students Diane Bushell who shared her experiences of providing personal care for her mum, with a particular focus on various aspects of going to the loo. Di offered lots of great insight and useful suggestions and strategies about what helped her and her mum, and got everyone thinking about some of the challenges people encounter.

This fed into a group activity where one of the handbook topics being considered from section 3 was help with toilet activities. There were lots of good discussions going on and some great feedback to help us further develop the handbook with real, practical advice.

The workshop concluded with Tracey looking at our priorities for developing resources before the end of the project, getting the group to vote on what format(s) we should focus on initially (leaflets, video clips and web pages were the winners). We also had some great offers to help us test those resources and get feedback on them before they are finalised.

Thank you to everyone for being part of the workshop and sharing your thoughts and experiences with us so generously. There’s one more face to face workshop planned for May, and we’ve also held two shorter online sessions for people who were unable to attend in person.

Full steam ahead until the end of the project!

Connect with ADS on twitter @DementiaStudies and on Facebook @adsuow 

We’re also on Instagram, Threads and LinkedIn so have a look and find us there too. 

DemECH resources impact evaluation survey

Resources on supporting people living with dementia in Extra Care Housing

In February we launched the additional resources from the DemECH project (Supporting people living with dementia in Extra Care Housing). We would now like to know what you think of these resources and how you have used or intend to use them. As a reminder, the resources can be found here.

We would like to invite you to take part in a study that involves completing a survey to evaluate the impact, use and usefulness of the DemECH resources:

• Three “Key Insights” booklets, each with a different target audience: adult social care commissioners and professionals, organisations providing Extra Care Housing for people living with dementia, people and families affected by dementia.
• An infographic summarising the key findings of the DemECH project.
• Three videos to support and supplement the three booklets, raise awareness and increase understanding of Extra Care Housing for people living with dementia.

The survey

The survey will explore what you think of the infographic and the booklet and video that applies to you, how you have used or intend to use them and how useful you have found them. The survey questionnaire is anonymous and should take around 10 minutes to complete. You only need to complete the sections that are relevant to you.

You can withdraw from the study by closing the browser page down without submitting your responses and your data will not be saved. Please note that once you have submitted your survey responses you will be unable to withdraw your data as participation is anonymous.

For more information about the survey and the treatment of the data and to access the survey, please click the following link – DemECH resources impact evaluation survey

If you have any questions or would like further information, please contact Dr Julie Barrett: j.barrett@worc.ac.uk

Connect with ADS on twitter @DementiaStudies and on Facebook @adsuow 

We’re also on Instagram, Threads and LinkedIn so have a look and find us there too.

Could you be a winner?

Although nominations for 2023/24 have been open for a while now, we haven’t really said much about The Hennell Award recently so we thought we’d put that right!

For those who may not be aware, The Hennell Award for Innovation and Excellence in Dementia Care has been running since 2014 and was set up by June Hennell in memory of her late husband Brian. The award recognises people who have made a significant contribution to promoting person-centred care. If you have attended a course facilitated by the Association for Dementia Studies, you are eligible to apply. As mentioned in a previous blog, this covers courses such as:

• Postgraduate Certificate modules and the Postgraduate Award
• Bespoke courses for professional groups or organisations
• Meeting Centres online training
• Championing Physical Activity for People Affected by Dementia

Nominations are open until 8^th July so if you’re not sure about nominating yourself or someone else there’s plenty of time to think about it, but why not join us in celebrating all the amazing work that’s going on out there!

Details and a copy of the nomination form can be found on our website, along with information about our previous winners. Maybe you could be the next one to join them…

We are always happy to chat things through and answer any questions people might have, so please feel free to get in touch dementia@worc.ac.uk.

Connect with ADS on twitter @DementiaStudies and on Facebook @adsuow 

We’re also on Instagram, Threads and LinkedIn so have a look and find us there too. 

Get Real – impact survey

Last year we completed our ‘Get Real with Meeting Centres’ project, which was investigating the challenges that face community-based group support for people living with dementia – such as Meeting Centres – in keeping going long term.

This project has certainly informed us in our thinking about the role of such community initiatives in the dementia pathway, and in particular about how Meeting Centres in the UK can function going forward. But we also want to know what everyone else thought – i.e. those we work with and alongside.

It’s now more than 6 months since we held our big celebration event to mark the end of the Get Real project and share our results. At that event we unveiled three booklets aimed at three different audiences, as well as a series of videos on different topics, regarding what we had learnt in the project:

Booklets

• What you can do to help your Meeting Centre: Suggestions for people who attend Meeting Centres
• Keeping Meeting Centres going long term: Recommendations for people running Meeting Centres
• Sustaining Meeting Centres and similar community-led dementia support: Suggestions for health and care professionals

Videos

• Referrals and the dementia care pathway
• Reaching people and membership
• Carer benefit and engagement
• Venue and location
• External relationships and collaboration
• Internal relationships and working practices
• Finances and funding

Time for feedback

Now that a little time has passed, we want to ask people who have read and seen these for a little feedback on them – what they thought of them, how they used them, if they passed them on to anyone (and if so, who?), and what was most useful or less useful about them. This will help us to gauge any impact from the study and also inform how we do things in future projects.

If you came along to our ‘Get Real Celebration Event’ on July 12 last year – or if you have simply encountered these resources since – please take the time to let us know what you think by completing this short survey. We much appreciate it!

For more information on the Get Real with Meeting Centres project, please visit the dedicated blog site.

Connect with ADS on twitter @DementiaStudies and on Facebook @adsuow 

We’re also on Instagram, Threads and LinkedIn so have a look and find us there too. 

Meeting Centres – the international perspective

At the start of February over 20 people got together online from different countries to get an update on what’s going on with Meeting Centres across the world. The session builds on the regular fortnightly meetings that we’ve been facilitating in the UK and those taking place in Scotland, where we find it useful to keep track of who’s doing what. It provided an informal chance to catch up with each other and share experiences, challenges and ideas.

Dr Shirley Evans led the session, but we were pleased to welcome Professor Rose-Marie Dröes who developed the Meeting Centre model and was the driving force behind Meeting Centres in the Netherlands.

There was a strong UK contingent from England, Scotland and Wales, but also representatives from the Netherlands, Singapore, Italy, Poland, and Australia. As it was the first meeting there was a fairly open agenda, with ideas being shared about what it would be good to cover in future sessions. The main part of the session revolved around getting a short update from each country.

The international group

Scotland – Meeting Centres Scotland, an independent third sector organisation, has just been established and is now up and running. Meeting Centres feature strongly in new Scottish Dementia Strategy, and the Meeting Centre network has a good relationship with the Scottish Government. A lived experience panel was a core part of the strategy development. An implementation plan is coming soon (mid-February) and again Meeting Centres will be part of that. There are nearly 20 Meeting Centres across Scotland with a good amount of interest at both a local and national level.

Singapore – After two Meeting Centres were set up as an initial pilot there are now seven Meeting Centres with another coming soon. They are getting interest from other areas to look at setting up Meeting Centres in Dementia Friendly Communities, of which there are 17 in Singapore. Dementia Singapore has moved to helping other partners to help set up new Meeting Centres instead of running them themselves as they did with the pilot. They are using a ground-up approach, identifying the needs in the local community, so people can see the purpose of getting new Meeting Centres up and running. There was government funding for the two pilot Meeting Centres, but the other Meeting Centres are funded by individual partners as part of their existing work.

Poland – The two Meeting Centres set up as part of the initial MeetingDem project are still running. There have been challenges trying to get further Meeting Centres set up, but it is hopeful that a change in government may improve the situation and get a Polish Dementia Strategy in place. Work has been going on engaging different professionals and students at Meeting Centres to help offer a variety of activities. There has been interest from other parts of Poland but it is currently unclear what progress has been made. Hosting the Alzheimer’s Disease International conference in Krakow in April this year may help to stimulate more activity.

Australia – Two Meeting Centres had been running and working really well, but the impact of Covid and other internal issues meant that neither is currently running. They are taking a step back to plan a new approach to get things going again, hopefully in collaboration with other organisations such as Dementia Australia. Potential funding is being identified that could help to start new Meeting Centres, and the future is looking quite positive as the Meeting Centre concept has already been proved through the previous piloting work. They have found it useful to learn from other countries to know how to overcome some of the barriers that they have encountered previously.

Italy – The initial Meeting Centre from the MeetingDem project is still running, and Meeting Centres are promoted as a social intervention as part of the regional strategy in Bologna. They are planning to open a new Meeting Centre in a different part of the city later this year after being delayed by the pandemic. Elsewhere, Meeting Centres are seen more as a medical rather than social intervention. The network of Meeting Points may be a useful route to developing further Meeting Centres and is worth investigating. Work is also in progress to set up more Meeting Centres in different parts of Italy which may have their own challenges, such as being close to the border with other countries.

Wales – Five Meeting Centres have been set up in Powys with four currently in operation covering four very different towns and communities across the county. Grant funding is becoming harder to secure as Meeting Centres are no longer a ‘new project’. The Meeting Centre provider has been trying for many years to access Welsh Government funding and was only able to do so recently, due to being on the brink of closure, but not at the levels they were aiming to secure. The Welsh Government has been addressing funding issues in The Senedd and putting pressure on the local Regional Partnership Board to fund the Powys Meeting Centres. The Meeting Centre provider is leading on the Community Engagement element of the Active Listening Campaign in Powys which is feeding into the All Wales Dementia Care Pathway of Standards. Work is also underway to set up a Meeting Centre in the Neath Port Talbot area of Wales.

England – Meeting Centres have taken off after the initial two pilots started as part of the MeetingDem project, both of which are still running. There has been lots of interest from across the country, and at a regional level, such as Council funding to open nine new Meeting Centres in Worcestershire. Many Meeting Centres tend to be in small market towns although there are some in more urban areas and cities. Work is still underway to get Meeting Centres up and running in London, but there is some interest currently so that is looking promising. It was recognised that a lot of organisations struggle with funding and getting Meeting Centres running for more than one day a week, as it can be difficult to be self-sustaining and funding tends to be short-term and focused on new ideas. It was also commented that Meeting Centres need to engage with other community groups so people have something to move onto when a Meeting Centre is no longer appropriate or able to support their needs.

It was questioned whether it could be easier to access arts funding rather than social care funding, as Meeting Centres are social clubs and can often have a strong arts focus. This is an area for some Meeting Centres to explore in the future.

It was great to hear from people around the world and appreciate the spread of Meeting Centres as it can be easy to get caught up in your own area and not realise how you’re part of something amazing on a much bigger scale. We’re hoping to have another session in the summer where we’ll aim to hear from a couple of Meeting Centres in more detail. Thanks to everyone to contributing to this first international session, I think we can say that it was a success!

For those who were unable to attend the session or who would like to find out more, a recording can be found here.

Connect with Meeting Centres on twitter @MeetingCentres

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