Uplands Care Service

Users of the service and their families, members of the community and representatives from a number of charities and voluntary organisations were present to hear how the organisation has been working during the past year and to receive the accounts.

The meeting was opened by the chairman, Mr Joe Forbes, who commented on the challenges that had been faced and thanked the staff, members of the Management Committee and those individuals who had provided services and support throughout the year.

The manager, Mrs Diane Vaughan, said there was a need to provide staff with specialist training and to offer a range of stimulating activities.

Items made by the users of the service were on display.

The treasurer, Mrs Pamela Tawse, thanked those organisations and individuals who had supported the service during the year in particular Stroud District Council, Stroud Town Council, Zurich Insurance, Renishaw plc and Wood-U-Waste.

Special thanks were due to the families of deceased Service Users who had given donations in memory of their family member.

Helen Bown, joint commissioning manager Older People and hysical Disability Services, had been invited to talk about developing a dementia-friendly community in Gloucestershire.

She said that in recent months there had been a number of new, national, initiatives on dementia and it was fortunate the Prime Minister had shown a particular interest in the subject.I Helen Bown went onto say that dementia is a long term condition and changes will occur over a period of time.

We all need to be aware of the needs of older people with dementia and plan accordingly.

It is an issue for us all  not just the NHS or county council  and organisations supporting people with dementia need to take advantage of the training available to improve the skills and knowledge of their staff.

We also need to respect people with dementia and their carers.

Making Gloucestershire a dementia-friendly community involves ensuring professionals are aware of the issues and people with dementia and their families know how, and where, to access the best level of support.

A great deal of work has been carried out with GPs, healthcare professionals and care staff (in both nursing homes and domiciliary care) to develop a rolling programme of free training and e-learning. Helen Bown added that a real success is the Dementia Intergenerational Training where Year 8 students in selected secondary schools have learned about dementia and then gone out to talk about the subject in their local primary schools.

The students have taken a real interest in the subject and their teachers and advisors have been impressed with their commitment and understanding of the issues.