Person-centred dementia care during the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unique challenges for people living with dementia, as well as for those who support them. Tracey Carter, senior quality manager (dementia care) at Exemplar Health Care, shares how colleagues across the company have found innovative ways to support people living with dementia to stay safe and well, and uphold the principles of person-centred care
It’s vital that health and social care workers, other professionals and family carers continue to take a person-centred approach to care during the pandemic, to support people with dementia to maintain, and enhance, their health and wellbeing.
Putting people first
There are currently around 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK, each with their own unique personalities and life stories. Everyone will experience the pandemic and its effects differently, which is why it’s important to maintain a person-centred approach.
Tracey Carter
At the start of lockdown, care homes were cut off and isolated from the wider community which posed a significant shift for service users and care workers.
In response, we quickly adapted many of our ways of working, systems and processes to adhere to national guidelines and safety policies.
However, when it comes to our approach to care at this time, there’s not a ‘one size fits all’ approach.
We adapted and adopted a creative approach to ensure that the same quality of person-centred care was achieved with lockdown restrictions in place.
To achieve this, Exemplar Health Care divided its approach into four key areas of need.
The needs of people living with dementia
One of the most important things for us was to identify how each individual communicates pain and discomfort, so we could monitor them for signs of Coronavirus (COVID-19).
Some older people living with dementia may have different symptoms or are unable to communicate when they are experiencing one of the common symptoms of the virus.
We provided training to support our care teams to look for signs that might indicate that people have the symptoms of Coronavirus (COVID-19), such as changes to their personality or everyday behaviours.
We also assessed potential communication challenges, like the use of full PPE which could frighten or upset people living with dementia, and continue to work with individuals and their loved ones to ease any stress. Some examples are wearing a name badge and photo on clothing, using drawings or written words to communicate and playing music to aid relaxation.
Combatting loneliness
Combatting loneliness has been a huge priority during the pandemic. At Exemplar Health Care, we’ve kept the same colleagues working on our units so that people are supported by a consistent team who know them, which is fundamental to person-centred care.
Our teams continue to be creative in supporting people to take part in meaningful activities and engagement in our homes – including doing everyday living tasks such as laundry and cleaning to give people a sense of familiarity, routine and purpose.
Where possible, we’ve brought the outdoors inside when people are not able to go out. For example, our activities teams have supported flower arranging or plant potting inside, as well as creating indoor beaches, to support people to maintain their hobbies and interests.
We’ve also made good use of technology during times of lockdown. At the beginning of the pandemic, we purchased iPads for each of our homes which have enabled residents to stay in touch with their loved ones, as well as provided opportunities for meaningful activity, such as virtual tours of tourist attractions or playing music.
The spaces in our homes have always been personalised to the people we support, with decorations, photos and posters tailored to their interests – this became even more important during the pandemic, as maintaining interests became key to combat loneliness and frustration.
Family/loved ones’ needs
Families have found it incredibly difficult not being able to physically see and be with loved ones during the lockdown period.
Throughout the pandemic, we’ve supported people to keep in touch via video calls, using systems such as Skype and Zoom.
When visiting was permitted, we implemented individual risk assessments to support safe visits, outlining what support individuals might need during visits. We also made all the efforts to ensure that visits happened when people wanted them.
Several of our homes have assigned a new Family Liaison role, whose responsibility is to keep in touch with family and friends, and facilitate communication between service users and their loved ones.
Multidisciplinary team needs
Teams across the company, and externally, have utilised tools such as Skype and FaceTime to carry out assessments and discuss people’s needs to ensure that we can continue to provide high quality care during the pandemic.
Where safe and appropriate, we’ve allocated in-house specialists, such as quality managers and trainers, to specific homes so they can support colleagues without travelling between homes.
We have continued to work with external teams, such as community nurses and palliative teams, throughout the pandemic to maintain standards of care.
We’re also working as closely and pre-emptively as we can with local GPs and other community-based services who are no longer able to make face-to-face visits to homes, to see and assess residents virtually.
Support for colleagues
Care work is extremely rewarding, but can be inherently stressful. The pandemic presented unique challenges to colleagues, taking a toll on everyone’s wellbeing.
Knowing that colleagues who are well, happy and engaged are more likely to provide quality care, Exemplar Health Care implemented a ‘We Care’ package to support colleague wellbeing.
We started working with a new Employee Assistance Programme partner to provide colleagues with 24/7 support from a team of trained counsellors, as well as growing our team of in-house Mental Health First Aiders.
Our specialist dementia quality manager has continued to work with each home to provide training and identify the best ways to support residents living with dementia during the pandemic, so that we can continue to uphold the principles of person-centred care.
This has been supported by short online videos and an enhanced eLearning schedule, so that we can continue to ensure that colleagues feel supported, and have the right skills and knowledge to maintain standards of care, despite the challenges of lockdown.
About Exemplar Health Care
Exemplar Health Care is a provider of specialist nursing care for adults living with complex and high acuity needs.
Our community-based homes provide person-centred care and rehabilitation that focuses on maximising independence, building everyday living skills and empowering people to live as fulfilled lives as possible.
We have over 30 homes across Yorkshire, the Midlands, North East and North West.
Read more about Exemplar Health Care.
About Tracey Carter
Tracey Carter is a senior quality manager (dementia care) at Exemplar Health Care. She’s responsible for ensuring that Exemplar Health Care’s 32 care homes have dementia-friendly living environments and that colleagues receive the right training to be able to support people living with dementia in a person-centred way.
