The HSE’s National Dementia Office has launched its Understand Together Winter 2017 Newsletter.  The complete newsletter can be downloaded here.

The main Understand Together news items are as follows:

• Home care services play an important role in enabling people with dementia to remain living in their own homes. At the end of August 2017, 262 people with dementia had benefitted from an Intensive Home Care Package (IHCP), 140 of which were active at that time. IHCPs are supporting people with dementia with a range of needs, many of whom are at a higher risk of long-term care placement. As well as undertaking an evaluation of the IHCPs, Genio is working with eight sites (Cork, Galway, Dublin South, Dublin North City, Waterford, Dublin North, Limerick and Dublin West) to support the implementation of a more personalised approach to dementia-IHCP delivery.
• The PREPARED project, coordinated by Dr Tony Foley in University College Cork, continues to develop and deliver dementia education and clinical resources for GPs and primary care health professionals across Ireland.
• Medications for People with Dementia: A national interdisciplinary steering group, co-chaired by Prof. Stephen Byrne, Head of the School of Pharmacy, University College Cork, and Dr. Suzanne Timmons, Clinical Lead for Dementia, is being set-up to develop evidence based guidelines for health care professionals on the use of psychotropic medications for people with dementia. Antipsychotics are a particular focus of the planned guidelines. While they can help with certain dementia symptoms, such as abnormal thoughts, or hallucinations, they have been linked to a slightly increased risk of stroke and death. In addition, they are sometimes used inappropriately for symptoms that are unlikely to respond to treatment with antipsychotics.
• The HSE with the Alzheimer Society of Ireland and Genio are running a national dementia awareness campaign. Ronan Smith, Chair of the Irish Dementia Working Group, is taking a leading role behind the scenes of the campaign.

You can contact the National Dementia Office Understand Together group at dementia.office@hse.ie or on (057) 931 8451