Dementia diagnosis: what next?

Dementia diagnosis: what next?

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Getting a dementia diagnosis can be a big shock, and it can be hard to know what to do next. Take a look at this guide to find out what support you should receive.
The essential information you should get after a dementia diagnosis
  • Your type of dementia and how it will affect you.
  • Any further tests, treatment, activities or therapies that might help you.
  • Who will provide your care and how to contact them, including the professional who will coordinate your care.
  • Support groups and charities that can help you.
  • How dementia can affect your driving and what you need to do.
  • How your employer should support you if you work (or are looking for work).
  • Any research studies you could take part in.

This information should be explained to you and given to you in writing. You can also ask for it in a format you understand. If you don’t need this information straight away, you can ask for it later on.

What else should you talk about with your GP?

  • Consent – Do you agree to services sharing information about you? Who can they share information with, and what are you willing for them to share?
  • Information – Do you know who to contact for more advice if your needs change?
  • Future contact – You may not need any help or further appointments now. If that is the case, would you like to be contacted again and if so, when?

Next step checklist

It’s not just health and care support you need to think about when diagnosed with dementia. To help you, Dementia UK has created a checklist to follow, which includes information on benefits and discussing plans and wishes with your family.

Dementia UK checklist

What support have you received? 

Have you or loved one had a dementia diagnosis? We want to hear your experience of dementia care and support – good and bad. We have the power to make sure NHS leaders and other decision makers listen to and act on your feedback. So, if you’ve got a story to share, tell us!

Planning your care

Now

After your dementia diagnosis, your GP should direct you to services that can give you more information and support. You should also be given the name of a professional who will coordinate any care and support you might need.

The future

Thinking ahead can feel overwhelming, but planning care can help make sure people know your wishes for the future. When you’re ready for this, you should be offered support and information to discuss your options.

Support for carers

Anyone with caring responsibilities for a person with dementia is entitled to a Carers’ Assessment. Their local Authority will carry this out. The Assessment will look at the impact of caring for a person with dementia and what support is needed. Take a look at Dementia UK’s guidance on Carers’ Assessments for more information.

As a carer, it is essential to think about your health and wellbeing. It is a significant adjustment, so you should take a look at the options available to you. These can include:

  • Training
  • Support
  • Advice

More information

The information on this page is from The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guide for people with dementia and their family and carers. Take some time to read the guide in full to understand better the support available to people with dementia and their carers.

Read full guidance

Visit our dementia health page for information on local services

Northumberland Pride 2021

Northumberland Pride 2021

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This year’s Northumberland Pride event takes place at People’s Park, Ashington on Saturday 28 August. The event will be ticketed for the first time, to make sure that it can go ahead in a Covid-safe way.

Kicking off at 11.00am the day will include live entertainment, a Health and Wellbeing Zone in partnership with Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust, and a Children, Young People and Families Area in partnership with regional charity NE Youth.

We will once again have a Healthwatch Northumberland stall, so come and see us and tell us your care experiences. Plus you could win a prize or take home a goodie bag.

Book tickets

Click and Connect: GP online services report

Click and Connect: GP online services report

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GP online services report

GP online services can cover a range of different functions, for example, booking appointments online, ordering repeat prescriptions and viewing medical records, test results and medicines. Many people find it more convenient to register for online services rather than having to rely on telephone or in person contact with their surgery. This has been magnified by the Covid-19 pandemic, due to social distancing restrictions.

We were contacted by someone who told us about the difficulties they had experienced trying to register for GP services online. They found the process complicated, particularly as they were asked to visit the practice in person with ID, in the middle of the pandemic. We decided to do some work to look at how people in Northumberland could register for online services at GP practices across the county.

Click and Connect: GP Online Services Report

What you told us: April to June 2021

What you told us: April to June 2021

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Healthwatch Northumberland Feedback Report April to June 2021

Between April and June 2021, we received feedback from 63 individuals from talking to people at face-to-face engagement events, telephone calls, emails, our website, social media, and other sources. We signposted 20 of these people to services.

This quarter we received feedback and enquiries from:

  • Telephone calls (42%)
  • Emails (23%)
  • Website (19%)
  • Social media (12%)
  • Engagement event (5%)

Each quarter we look at who we are hearing from across the county, including location, gender, age, and whether the respondent is sharing their own health and social care experience or speaking on behalf of a friend or relative.

We also look at the general sentiment of comments, with specific reference to the service type, for example whether that’s primary care (doctors, dentists, pharmacies), secondary care (hospital services), mental health or social care, as well as whether the feedback relates specifically to quality of the care or access to services.

Find out more about who we heard from and what we were told, below.

Feedback Report April – June 2021

Top tips to get the most out of your GP appointment

Top tips to get the most out of your GP appointment

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One of the main things we hear from the public is getting a GP appointment can be tricky. And when you do get an appointment, the time you get to talk to your doctor can be limited. Healthwatch England has pulled together some top suggestions to help you make the most of your appointment slot.

These suggestions will help you feel prepared for your appointment and make the most of the time you have with your GP.

Read Top tips to get the most out of your GP appointment

If you would like to tell us about your recent experience of a GP appointment you can Tell us your Story here.

Covid restrictions after 19 July

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NHS health teams across the region are set to continue with the current pandemic safety measures for the foreseeable future to help protect everyone from infections such as Covid-19 and flu.

The safety measures introduced nationally during the pandemic have helped not only protect staff, patients and visitors over the past year, but enabled the NHS to continue providing many of the non-urgent services that would otherwise have been postponed.

Healthcare settings across Northumberland are asking for patients and visitors to continue wearing a face covering after 19 July. This includes GP practices, hospitals, dental practices, optometrists and pharmacies.

Staff, patients and visitors will also be expected to continue to follow social distancing rules and wash their hands regularly when visiting any health or social care setting.
These measures can help you protect yourself and other people and prevent the spread of infection. This will help keep services open and limit any disruption.
While the government roadmap plans to remove measures like this from everyday life from 19 July it’s vital that the public can be confident about accessing or visiting local healthcare services safely.
Joint Local Area SEND revisit Northumberland

Joint Local Area SEND revisit Northumberland

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Joint local area SEND revisit in Northumberland

Between 19 and 21 May 2021, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) revisited the local area of Northumberland to decide whether sufficient progress has been made in addressing each of the areas of significant weakness detailed in the written statement of action issued on 29 November 2018.

As a result of the findings of the initial inspection and in accordance with the Children Act 2004 (Joint Area Reviews) Regulations 2015, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector (HMCI) determined that a written statement of action was required because of significant areas of weakness in the local area’s practice. HMCI determined that the local authority and the area’s Clinical Commissioning Group were jointly responsible for submitting the written statement to Ofsted.

This was declared fit for purpose on 18 March 2019. The area has made sufficient progress in addressing the three areas of significant weakness identified at the initial inspection. This letter outlines the findings from the revisit.

Area SEND Revisit Letter Northumberland

Do It For Yourself

Do It For Yourself

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We are supporting the #DoItForYourself initiative which helps raise awareness around the symptoms of lung cancer and the importance of early diagnosis. If you’ve noticed any signs of lung cancer, such as breathlessness or a cough lasting for more than three weeks, contact your GP practice to get checked out.

Lung cancer can affect people of all ages, but the risk increases as you get older. The campaign specifically targets men and women over the age of 50 as lung cancer most commonly affects people of this age group.

Before the pandemic the early diagnosis of lung cancer was challenging, with many patients presenting with a late stage cancer when curative treatment is not an option. Covid has added the complication of potentially disguising the signs and symptoms of lung cancer. If you have any concerns, your GP practice is there to help.

Read more about the symptoms and treatment of lung cancer

Annual Report 2020/21

Annual Report 2020/21

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Find out what we got up to in the last 12 months in our . Read about the highlights of our year including our work on care home visits and how we worked with others to get results.

There are also examples of how our Information and Signposting service helped individuals, and how our fabulous volunteers continued to support us and our communities through the pandemic.

There are lots of fantastic Northumberland photos inside too!

If you’d like to tell us about your experiences of care or have a query for our Signposting and Information Service, please get in touch.

 

View the Healthwatch Northumberland Annual Report 2020/21

 

We’re back on the road! Find us in your area

We’re back on the road! Find us in your area

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We getting out and about again in communities across Northumberland this summer! We’ll be heading to the venues below with our Annual Survey, goodie bags and information and signposting service, so do stop by to say hello, pick up a survey and some freebies.

 

Find us at:

  • Cafe @ Burn Lane, Hexham: Monday 21 June, 11.00am – 1.30pm
  • Outside the Co-op, Prudhoe: Wednesday 23 June, 9.30am – 12.00pm
  • Merton Road, Ponteland: Friday 25 June, 9.30am – 12.00pm
  • Market Square, Haltwhistle: Monday 28 June, 11.00am – 1.30pm
  • Outside Morrisons, Bedlington: Thursday 1 July, 9.30am – 12.00pm
  • Ashington Market: Tuesday 6 July, 9.30am – 12.00pm
  • Berwick Market: Wednesday 7 July: 10.00am – 12.30pm
  • Outside Bellingham Library: Friday 9 July, 2.00pm – 4.00pm
  • Morpeth Market: Wednesday 14 July, 9.30am – 12.00pm
  • Outside Morrisons, Amble: Thursday 15 July, 9.30am – 12.00pm
  • Outside Concordia Leisure Centre, Cramlington: Monday 19 July, 1.00pm – 3.30pm
  • Outside The Cheviot Centre, Wooler: Thursday 22 July, 1.00pm – 3.00pm
  • Blyth Market: Friday 23 July, 9.30am – 12.00pm

 

Our Annual Survey is a chance to tell us about the health and social care services you and your family have used over the last 12 months

With services working to bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic, your views have never been more important and can play a crucial role to help us identify and address issues that affect the quality of people’s care.

You can also help us decide where to focus our work in the year ahead.

If you can’t get to one of our events, you can tell us about your experiences at the online survey or you can get in touch to ask for a paper copy and freepost envelope. If you would like to complete the survey over the phone with one of our friendly team please call 03332 408468 or text 07413 385275 to arrange a call back.