A campaign group that promotes the use of music in care for dementia patients has formed a new partnership with one of the UK’s leading music organisations to promote its power.
Music for Dementia works with over 200 different organisations to show how integral songs and melodies can be for those with the disease and they have now added UK Music to its list.
Dubbed the ‘Power of Music’, the partnership is looking to get more groups to recognise the impact this can have when it comes to improving overall health and wellbeing.
Grace Meadows, campaign director at Music for Dementia, explained to NR Times a bit more about the collaboration.
“It is a national campaign,” she said. “What we do is we advocate and call for music to be made an integral part of dementia care.
“We want to make sure that everybody who has dementia has access to music as part of their dementia care should they want it.
“We call for that because we’re passionate about the power of music but also we know that the science shows that music is uniquely placed to support people living with dementia in a range of ways, unlike many other interventions.
“We’ve been having conversations with UK Music for several years now because they’re an important body in the country.
“Through the conversations we’ve been having with them, they understand, appreciate and value the benefits of music, beyond the economic ones, that it brings to the UK.
“They are a powerful voice and they represent the whole industry. So by working with UK Music, we then, by extension, are able to work with lots of other important players in the space.
“There is a big piece of work here that we need to do as a society to improve dementia care and we can do that through music, which is a huge goal of the campaign.”
To strengthen the partnership’s hand both groups have jointly launched a survey to find out the opinions of both individuals and organisations around using music in dementia care.
“We realised that now is a real opportunity here,” Grace said. “Never more has music been so readily available to us but the disconnection of its therapeutic use could be made more of to help improve lives.
“It was agreed that we would undertake a piece of work over the next few months looking at what more needs to be done and how we do that together.
“Rather than have lots of different voices, all saying similar but different things, what we’re trying to do with this survey is find out what are the key things that we can be doing across sectors right now, to really put music front and centre in our health and well being.
“We’re very aware that dementia care doesn’t stop at dementia, it has ripple effects into mental health and lifestyle which is why in the survey, we ask some of the broader questions around music.”
Music for Dementia will use the results to submit a report about the available policy changes in this sector to the government.
They have been a vital part of this campaign, with a number of ministers involved including the department for digital, culture, media and sport minister Caroline Dinenage and health minister Nadine Dorries.
The government is completely on board with the campaign after a meeting with both groups in April, which is vital if any meaningful change is to come out of this.
“They’re incredibly supportive,” Grace said. “We also know that there’s a high level of support from the care minister Helen Whately who has been really impressed by the amount of work that’s gone on in this space.
“We’re very grateful and very delighted that we have that level of support because that is what can make this kind of big system change happen.”
The impact music can have on dementia patients can be huge, with some research suggesting that music therapy reduces the need for medication in over 65 pre cent of dementia patients.
Evidence like this has only increased in recent years, with organisations like Music for Dementia being a voice to have it taken more seriously as an effective method of treatment.
Although this type of therapy will never cure dementia, its impact on a person’s wellbeing can be massive.
The role music can play in improving mental health is well documented, with further research linking a decline in this to neuro conditions like dementia.
“We know that music is good for us, I just don’t think that we know quite how or why or how to use it yet.
“We don’t have a cure for dementia but we do have an obligation to ensure that people living with it have the best possible quality of life and we’ve seen time and time again, the way that this can be achieved is through music.
“What we’re trying to do is unite the voices around music in dementia, there are so many people working in this space and we want to bring all that fantastic work together and unite the message.
“Fundamentally, that message is that music is good for us and it’s particularly good for people living with dementia.”
Music therapy in dementia care is not simply just playing music for a patient, but delivering it to them in a personalised way at the right times, be it through music lessons, group activities or a trained music therapist.
“Every time I talk to somebody about this campaign, they’ve got a personal link to dementia and that’s why we’re doing it.
“So many people are living or have lived this experience of having somebody with dementia in their network, it really does touch us all.”
