Reflection: Moray Health and Social Care Partnership “Reshaping Care for Older People”, 21st September 2017

HeidiReflection

The afternoon started with an address by Pam Gowans, Chief Officer of The Integration Joint Board, who explained that we were going to be looking at various models of care and we were to examine our local provision and look at new solutions.

I found myself the lone male in a circle of 15 women, 14 of whom knew each other from being NHS /council colleagues, so very quickly the discussion got very technical and the air was thick with a rare selection of TLA’s (Three Letter Acronyms) to which I could contribute very little. I finally could contribute when the discussion turned to care of people with a diagnosis of Dementia, since I have experience of this in a close family member, and was able to make the point that the patients they were speaking of were people who had the right to refuse to be placed in these facilities and that reinforced the point being made by others about people being cared for in their homes as far as possible and that a hospital assessment of their needs was never going to be accurate because they were in a horribly alien environment. I had also been chatting to Val Thatcher, who is the patient representative on the Board, and had been explaining about the Wellness College and describing WRAP as a

I finally could contribute when the discussion turned to care of people with a diagnosis of Dementia, since I have experience of this in a close family member, and was able to make the point that the patients they were speaking of were people who had the right to refuse to be placed in these facilities. That reinforced the point being made by others about people being cared for in their homes and that a hospital assessment of their needs was never going to be accurate because they were in a horribly alien environment.

I had also been chatting to Val Thatcher, who is the patient representative on the Board, and had been explaining about the Wellness College and describing WRAP as a resilience-building tool; she was entranced by the concept and dropped in a cue for me in the conversation so I could introduce the Wellness College and using WRAP as an adjunct to an Advance Statement while we were still well, particularly if we have a family history of dementia.

All in all, it was worth attending first as part of the democratic process, but also for making new contacts.

Chris

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