Evaluating a service against the Good Practice Standards for Dementia and People who have Learning Disabilities

Abstract

The increasing population of older people with a learning disability (LD) has led to a growth in the rates of dementia in this population. This paper presents an evaluation of the provision and quality of dementia care currently provided in one locality where health and social care providers are co-terminus.A self-assessment checklist containing 15 best practice standards for care of people with LD and dementia was published by the British Psychological Society and the Royal College of Psychiatrists (Dodd et al., 2009).Each standard can be rated using a traffic light system of green, amber or red depending how well the local service meets the best practice standard. Interviews were held with 15 staff from LD and older adult’s services to examine how well the currently provided LD dementia care met with the standards set out in the checklist. Two standards were rated green, eleven were rated amber and two were rated red. A number of recommendations are made on the basis of these findings and are detailed in the report. The most important of these for changing the care provided are:The development of a multi-agency dementia strategy and care pathway for people with LD.The need for baseline dementia assessments for people with DS at 30 years of age.An investigation into the potential errors in Social Services’ database.