Abstract
As a person travels the journey of dementia, the impact of the condition will affect their physical, emotional and intellectual abilities, and the risk of increased complications of frailty such as chest infections, urine infections, falls, constipation and pressure damage increases. Frailty is now recognised as a distinctive health state related to the ageing process in which multiple body systems gradually lose their inbuilt reserves. Older people who live with frailty will have multiple conditions which may cause the diagnosis or management of any particular condition to be masked or harder to identify. For people living with dementia in care homes, the opportunities for them to undertake normal life activities that can assist in staving off or reducing the risks of physical or mental health conditions occurring are reduced. The impact of institutional living coupled with the progressive nature of dementia can complicate opportunities for both diagnosis and the management of conditions.
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Appendix 24.1 Additional Resources
Appendix 24.1 Additional Resources
Stirling University Dementia Development Centre
The Virtual Care Home is an online resource that demonstrates dementia-friendly design in care home settings or people’s own homes: http://dementia.stir.ac.uk/design/virtual-environments/virtual-care-home.
My Home Life; a UK-wide initiative with the aim of developing care practice in care homes: http://myhomelife.org.uk.
The Kings Fund’s Enhancing the Healing Environment is an initiative aimed to improve dementia design in NHS and collective care settings: http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/search/site/enhancing%20healing%20environment.
National Association for the Provision of Activity for Older People – promoting best practice in activity provision including in care home settings: http://www.napa-activities.com/how-we-work/.
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Phair, L. (2016). Living with Dementia in a Care Home: The Importance of Well-Being and Quality of Life on Physical and Mental Health. In: Chew-Graham, C., Ray, M. (eds) Mental Health and Older People. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29492-6_24
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29492-6_24
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