2.1 Scope of this guidance document
This guidance document will: • List five key considerations to inform good practice in communicating with a person with dementia. • Provide guidance on four areas which were identified during the development of this document (see Appendix 2 for methodology). A separate guidance document will be developed later in 2015 on completion of advance care planning and advance healthcare directives and this will be guided by the forthcoming Assisted Decision Making (Capacity) Act (37).
2.2 Who is this document for?
This document has been written for all health and social care staff who work with and support people with dementia across all settings (e.g. in the home, in residential care settings, in hospitals, etc). A whole person approach needs a whole team approach: all staff supporting people with dementia will interact and engage with the person with dementia and their families in different ways depending on their roles. Each of those roles are interconnected and are key to delivering good quality person-centred care. Therefore, all staff need to develop competence and confidence in supporting people to have these discussions within their own scope of practice.
2.3 How to use the document
End-of-life care reflects the whole continuum of care and the skills required to facilitate discussions on future and end-of-life care needs to complement existing practices within services. Therefore, this document needs to be used by healthcare staff within their own scope of practice, professional guidelines and standards. This guidance document should be considered as an adjunct to: existing best practice guidelines in dementia care, best practice guidelines in end-of-life care, and national and local policies, standards and procedures which relate to working with people with dementia and older people. It is recommended that if a person is not familiar with the document that they take the time to read it in its entirety as each section builds on the knowledge and information shared in the previous section. The factsheet which accompanies the document should serve as a visual reminder to people who have read the whole document. It is not recommended as a standalone item. Changing attitudes, cultures and care practices takes time. How you choose to use this guidance document will depend on your setting. You may choose to adapt it into policies, deliver it as part of an education programme, hold information sessions on it or discuss it within individual teams to effect changes within services for people with dementia.
Facilitating discussions on future and end-of-life care with a person with dementia
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