Dementia Care

Specialist Dementia Care at Home

We firmly believe that, where appropriate, offering people who suffer from dementia the opportunity to remain in the familiarity of their own home with tailored support from a trusted, trained, professional home carer enables them to retain independence and a much higher quality of life. We are highly experienced in providing specialist, one-to-one dementia care at home, fully supported and managed by our local care management team.

Our dementia home care service is available as either hourly care (1 hour to 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, including sleepover night care and waking night care) or full-time live-in care.

Personal, Practical Approach to Dementia Care

In helping our clients remain at home we have collaborated with the Contented Dementia Trust to introduce and adopt their specialist approach to caring for people with dementia called the SPECAL method.

The SPECAL method treats dementia as a disability and works positively with it, rather than trying to ignore or defeat it. It has been shown to:

• Increase the person’s confidence and thereby slow the rate of deterioration
• Reduce the need for medication
• Enable the person to remain in their own home for significantly longer
• Minimise the distress all too often seen during and after a transition into a different care setting

At the heart of the SPECAL Method is an innovative way of understanding dementia from the point of view of the person with the condition – the SPECAL Photograph Album. This leads to a counter-intuitive but essential set of principles known as SPECAL sense, a way of communicating with the person with dementia that immediately reduces stress for everyone concerned. Carefound Home Care provides training in the general principles of the SPECAL method across its home care team to ensure that all its clients can benefit.

SPECAL sense begins with three Golden Rules (don’t ask questions; listen to the expert; don’t contradict). These basic rules apply to each and every person with dementia and will make a remarkable difference as soon as they are introduced, but they are not enough to sustain well-being for life. Each person’s life history is different and individualized profiling will be required to sustain well-being lifelong. Profiling demands a complex mix of skills and experience, and Carefound Home Care works with the Contented Dementia Trust to integrate the necessary training into its current programme.

The conditions regarded as essential for well-being according to the Contented Dementia Trust are:

• Personal worth: The feeling that one is valued
• A sense of control: Being able to make decisions and see that they are implemented
• Social ease: Being able to feel comfortable in interaction with others and share a social space
• Trust and confidence: The feeling that all will be well in the end

We have experience of working as part of a multi-disciplinary team, including with other health professionals such as specialist mental health teams, and fully appreciate the importance of a co-ordinated approach in helping our clients.

“Thank you for your professionalism and persistence when dealing with difficult situations with Mum. The ‘Specal’ method has been used with very positive outcomes.”

Mrs H, Ilkley

Award Winning Dementia Care