Blog
Thinking from across the network
Our DCAN blog offers a space for new ideas to grow and be shared, with contributors from across and beyond our network.
Latest blog posts
‘It’s all going to plan’
I recall with fondness my Dad’s favourite phrase ‘it’s all going to plan.’ He was a man with a plan. It was a principle I adopted in my career in business, as a father in the care and support of my son, Thomas, and as a son myself in organising my Mam and Dad’s care....
Next Steps to Put People at the Heart of Care.
In December 2021, the Government published its People at the Heart of Care white paper, setting out a much-needed 10-year vision for reforming adult social care. When released, Alzheimer’s Society welcomed this paper for setting out a much-needed vision for social...
Introducing the East Riders peer support group
The East Riders is a peer support group for people living with dementia. It’s a space for people with dementia to get together, talk, and share experiences. We meet once a month in Beverley, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The group arose from our delivery of the...
Personhood and dementia
There are many fantastic examples of where personalised care supports people to “live in the place we call home, with the people and things that we love, in communities where we look out for one another, doing the things that matter to us.” Yet sadly, this is by no...
Changing the conversation and rethinking Dementia
Dementia is in many respects ‘the last taboo’. We urgently need to create a new narrative for dementia. A good life for my son with a learning disability has meant living in his own house in a place that he loves, where he is liked and respected in his local...
Whose life is it anyway? Challenging the absence of dementia voice
The pandemic painfully illustrated the failure to listen to the voice of those living with dementia. Any future must be rooted in learning to listen and hear. Those of you of a particular generation might well remember the Radio 4 weekly show ‘Does he take sugar?’,...
DCAN is changing…
DCAN have commissioned a new paper launching on July 20th 2022, “Place, people, purpose and power – promoting the wellbeing of people living with dementia through personalised care and support” traces the history of personhood and dementia, its relationship to the personalisation movement more broadly and where we need to go next.
Support for people, their carers and families while waiting for a memory assessment
What are we doing? Along with the dementia policy team at NHS England and NHS Improvement I’m working with DCAN to: find out what support is important to people experiencing memory problems while they wait for an appointment at a memory service, and share information...
“Whatever Happens Marty, Don’t Go to 2020!”
2020 has been quite a year. Yet in our own way we have achieved a great deal. Here are some of the highlights from our year working to personalise dementia, together. January- This was to be our big launch. One room, 119 people, the 6 components of...