Walsall is one of the areas whose proposal has been taken forward to be part of a national scheme to encourage local communities to consider the needs of people with dementia and their carers. Funded through a partnership of the Council and the Clinical Commissioning Group, our local scheme provides the opportunity for local businesses and organisations to acquire an accredited ‘Dementia Friendly’ status.
People signing up then receive a package of training tailored to their organisational needs, and then through both immediate action and medium term planning, they can become accredited members of the scheme. They will then be subject to follow up checks, including mystery shoppers, to encourage this to be an ongoing commitment to support the increasing number of people developing dementia in our communities.
Details are contained within the attached leaflets – read more about why to be Dementia Friendly, some hints and tips on how you can do so, and a checklist for the immediate environment.
Local people with dementia, and their carers have been involved throughout the design of this scheme – choosing who to target first, designing the logo, and offering to be part of the accreditation process. We have already engaged some local, major supermarkets and are making plans with Council in-house providers and GPs.
