Introducing the Newcastle Functional Formulation (NEWc FM) and its use on an inpatient unit

Abstract

Over the Covid-19 pandemic the number of patients with dementia admitted to our functional units increased, owing to difficulties occurring in the organic/dementia units. For example, there was a reduction in the number of placements (i.e. beds) on the organic units due to the need to quarantine patients, and also because of difficulties discharging patients due to lockdown restrictions in local care homes. Rightly or wrongly, the admissions of patients with dementia were prioritised during this period because they were displaying more challenging presentations, making their current placements in community settings less viable. Hence, the influx of patients with severe dementia into the functional units required a redesigning of the assessment, formulation and care-planning procedures. To this end, a new model was developed called the Newcastle functional model; an adaptation of the well-known Newcastle model for people living with dementia (James & Birtles, 2021). The current article describes both the use of the new model over an 18 month period, and a survey regarding its use on Akenside functional inpatient unit.