University’s Dementia Care Website Rolled Out Across Wales
Wednesday, 03 August 2022
A website developed by staff in the University of Worcester’s Association for Dementia Studies, is being rolled out across hospitals across Wales.
The Care Fit for VIPS website is a free online resource that allows health professionals to self-assess a service or organisation against a set framework to ensure it meets dementia-friendly requirements.
It also enables them to identify areas to improvement and signposts to resources relating to each area of the framework. The website also gives professionals a template to put plans into action.
The website has been specially updated and adopted by Improvement Cymru, which is part of Public Health Wales, with a bespoke version being rolled out across Welsh hospitals as part of the implementation of their Dementia Friendly Hospital Charter for Wales. Users of the original Care Fit for VIPS website will also benefit from the updates that have taken place.
Dawn Brooker, Emeritus Professor in Dementia Studies at the University, who developed the underlying VIPS framework, said: “I’m really pleased to see that this toolkit is now being rolled out across Wales. We hope that it will give professionals the confidence to identify areas for change and provide the right advice and guidance on how to do that.”
Ian Dovaston, Improvement Manager, Improvement Cymru said: “In April this year Improvement Cymru launched the Dementia Friendly Hospital Charter Wales, following a successful pilot of Care Fit for VIPS with three health boards and a variety of inpatient areas Wales is now ready to roll out the toolkit to every region and drive change with person-centred care at its heart.”
The Care Fit for VIPS website was first developed in 2010 from a grant from West Midlands Regional Health Authority originally to provide a tool kit for care homes to reduce dependence on antipsychotics for people with dementia living in care homes. Subsequently, different versions were developed for use in day centres, hospitals, domiciliary care and community settings.
Practitioners and professionals from many different areas use the web-based platform to assess the person-centredness of their organisation across 25 different indicators, pinpoint areas for quality improvement and find up to date web resources to support quality improvement cycles.
The content of the website is based on Professor Brooker’s VIPS framework for Person-Centred Dementia Care. The VIPS definition of person-centred care was adopted within NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) guidance for the assessment and treatment of dementia, informing policy and practice (NICE, 2018).
To find out more information about the Welsh hospital version of the platform please contact: PHW.ImprovementCymruDementia@wales.nhs.uk