The Fife Dementia Strategy: 2010 – 2020 - The Knowledge Network

potential case of dementia will be offered opportunities to increase their
knowledge and skills necessary to recognise, assess and refer a person with
suspected dementia; and where appropriate to manage and review people
with a diagnosis of dementia. This will involve working with physicians
throughout Fife as well as with Colleges and Universities to ensure health and
social care workers are receiving dementia specific training. As part of this
work a clear pathway for the referral of someone with dementia in Fife will be
established and will include the point of recognition of potential dementia
through to diagnosis and ongoing care (Section 4.2).
Vision Loss & Dementia
Fife Council Older Peoples Service is working in partnership with the Fife
Society for the Blind to improve awareness of people with vision loss and
dementia in care homes throughout Fife. This innovative project will see
specialists working with staff to improve their awareness, provide staff
training, improve knowledge transfer, and develop more effective
pathways for care delivery through joint working.
3.4 Develop and improve access to dementia expertise and
educational materials by utilising new technologies and methods, and
ensuring they are available throughout Fife.
There are a number of new documents produced by various organisations
which focus on improving knowledge and awareness of dementia in the
general public and for people directly affected by dementia. Health Scotland’s
Coping with Dementia: A Handbook for Carers of People with Dementia and
Facing Dementia: A Handbook for People with Dementia are extremely useful
resources, as is the general awareness leaflet by Health Scotland Worried
about your memory? Unfortunately the use of these resources has been
hindered by poor availability and accessibility.
In addition to such materials, in Fife there are a range of local dementia
experts and services providing high quality and innovative services for people
with dementia. Many of these are highlighted throughout the Strategy in the
green Good Practice boxes. However, despite local expertise, there are two
major factors affecting knowledge transfer and leading to many staff lacking
the skill necessary to work successfully with people with dementia: 1) There
are very few standard or organised ways to share information, and 2) Staff
who work with people with dementia are under increasing pressures to
provide services and do not have protected time for participating in or
designing ways for knowledge transfer.
In order to develop staff knowledge and expertise and high quality services
the Council and NHS must work with external providers to promote knowledge
transfer and develop the role of local experts. This will include identified
standards for information sharing after receiving professional training and will
promote continual improvement. Service providers and care workers will work
23