People with dementia have the right to personal choice over where, and how, they live; which includes conversations with carers about their home and it meeting their needs when planning ahead.

Living with dementia can impact your ability to live independently. Many things which you were previously able to do for yourself may become difficult. Adaptations can help with some tasks, and support at home can also be beneficial.
However, it is an important principle that people with dementia have the right to choose how and where they live. Nobody should feel as though they are not being supported to remain in their own home when they feel that is right for them.

For extra information, evidence and best practice please scroll down to the bottom of the page.

Regional offerings

Dementia Wellbeing Plan for Greater Manchester; Dementia United

The Greater Manchester dementia wellbeing plan promotes personalised planning conversations with people living with dementia and carers about their needs and wants. The plan ensures an improved standard of care planning for people living with dementia and also facilitates sharing across the system. It will be available as a standardised plan which can be accessed and shared digitally between practitioners; as well as being available from the website for people affected by dementia to be using when having person centred care plan reviews
Weblink: https://dementia-united.org.uk/dementia-wellbeing-plan/

Dementia United

Working towards improving the quality of life for people living with dementia or caring for someone who has dementia, supporting people to live as independently as possible and providing access to services when needed.
Weblink: https://dementia-united.org.uk/

Housing for People Living With Dementia in Greater Manchester - From Policy to Practice

The report and recommendations within it are part of an extensive period of consultation over the past 18 months and including more than 250 stakeholders across housing, health and social care in Greater Manchester, alongside people with lived experience of dementia, carers and loved ones.
Weblink: https://dementia-united.org.uk/housing/

Dementia Carers Expert Reference Group (DCERG)

Working with Dementia United to ensure the carers voice is central for influencing policy and commissioning for dementia care and support.
Email: gmhscp.dementiaunited@nhs.net

National offerings

Age UK

Age UK is the country's leading charity dedicated to helping everyone make the most of later life. Providing advice, support, information, fundraising, local services
Telephone: Advice line 0800 678 1602 free to call 8am - 7pm 365 days of the year
Weblink: https://www.ageuk.org.uk

Alzheimer’s Society

The Alzheimer’s Society provides reliable and up to date information to help you with every aspect of living with dementia.
Telephone: National Dementia Helpline: 0300 222 1122. Open 9.00am. – 5.00pm. Monday to Friday & 10.00am. – 4.00pm. Saturday and Sunday.
Weblink: https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/

Carers UK

Caring will affect us all at some point in our lives. We'll be here for you when that happens. With your help, we can be there for the 6,000 people who start looking after someone each day.
Telephone: 020 7378 4999
Weblink: https://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice

Deep

DEEP is a network of groups of people with dementia across the UK. DEEP connects these groups together to share experiences and support each other. The resources available on the website provides links to these groups, a wide range of resources and DEEP Dementia Diaries from people living with dementia.
Telephone: The phone number at Innovations in Dementia is 01392 420076; who host DEEP
Weblinks:
https://www.dementiavoices.org.uk/
https://dementiadiaries.org/

Dementia Carers Count

Provide free carers courses, support and connecting carers up with a wider network, offer a virtual carers centre.
Weblink: https://dementiacarers.org.uk/

Dementia UK

Dementia UK is a national charity, committed to improving quality of life for all people affected by dementia. They provide Admiral Nurses, who work with family members and carers in all care settings along with a helpline for family members or carers who would welcome accessing advice and support.
Telephone: 0800 88 6678
Email: direct@dementiauk.org
Weblink: https://www.dementiauk.org/

Lewy Body Society

The Lewy Body Society is a charity whose mission is to fund research into Lewy body dementia and to raise awareness of the disease. The website provides information, support, resources and advice.
Telephone: 01942 914000
Weblink: https://www.lewybody.org/

Making Space

Making Space is a national charity working in the fields of mental health and learning disability and dementia services to people across the country.
Telephone: 01925 571 680
Email: enquiries@makingspace.co.uk
Weblink: https://makingspace.co.uk/

NHS England Dementia

Dementia is a key priority for both NHS England and the Government. NHS England's work includes:

Developing an access and waiting time standard for dementia, so people with dementia have equal access to diagnosis as for other conditions; setting the national average for an initial assessment
Achieving and maintaining the dementia diagnosis rate. NHS England agreed a national ambition for diagnosis rates that two thirds of the estimated number of people with dementia in England should have a diagnosis with appropriate post-diagnostic support
Post diagnostic care and support; as there has been substantial progress on diagnosis, NHS England will focus on improving post-diagnostic support

Other organisations and sectors are crucial to helping NHS England deliver improvements to services for those with dementia and their carers. NHS England are working in collaboration with: Alzheimer’s Society, Public Health England, Department of Health, ADASS, Care UK, clinical commissioning groups, GP practices, Royal College of General Practitioners, Royal College of Psychiatrists, amongst other stakeholders to develop NHS England’s five year transformation plan for people with dementia.
NHS England have developed a Dementia Well Pathway which outlines standards across all aspects of the Pathway from prevention, diagnosing, supporting, living and dying well.
Weblinks:
The NHS England dementia-well-pathway can be accessed here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/mentalhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2016/03/dementia-well-pathway.pdf
You can access the NHS England dementia programme of work here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/mental-health/dementia/

Together In Dementia Everyday (TIDE)

Providing resources e.g. Life Story work, dealing with living grief, legal information, As well providing a carers development programme, supporting and connecting up carers, sharing of stories - for family members and carers of people living with dementia.
Weblink: https://www.tide.uk.net/

Young Dementia UK

Support for young onset dementia (under 65); providing relevant information and also shares individual stories. This is also part of Dementia UK.
Telephone: Dementia UK Telephone: 0800 88 6678
Email: direct@dementiauk.org
Weblink: https://www.dementiauk.org/about-dementia/young-onset-dementia/

Living with Dementia Toolkit - downloadable guide

Not everyone has access to the internet so we have produced a Guide to the Living with Dementia Toolkit that can be downloaded and printed off. We encourage peers, family members, and health and social care professionals to make use of this.

The Guide is available in English and in Welsh. It introduces the toolkit and the resources available. For the full experience of the toolkit, you need to look at the website. QR codes link you back to the website at various points. There is a 'How to use QR codes' video lower down the page.

This can be downloaded here: https://livingwithdementiatoolkit.org.uk/home/living-with-dementia-toolkit-downloadable-guide/

Evidence

MSNAP Standards for Memory Services (2020): ‘The team supports patients to access organisations, which offer: housing support; social services.’

The 2019 report from the All Party Parliamentary Group ‘Hidden No More: Dementia and disability’ recognises the equal right of people with disabilities to live in the community and to facilitate effective and appropriate measures to full inclusion and participation in the community. In practice, this should mean that people with dementia are entitled to live independently in their own homes. They are also entitled to receive good quality, affordable supported housing, adaptations and technology.

The Life Story Network ‘Beyond the Front Door’ project commissioned by the Department of Health aimed to understand the meaning of ‘home’ to people living with dementia, the full report of can be viewed here.

To read the inquiry by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Housing and Care for Older People that explored the policy changes needed to help people live aswell as possible with dementia in their own homes, please click here.

The Framework for Enhanced Health in Care Homes: ‘An individual’s quality of life depends partly on having access to a range of housing options that suit their particular health and care needs. Whilst the EHCH contract and guidance is aimed at care homes, the wider EHCH framework could be extended to support people living in extra care housing and in supported living arrangements, or to those who require support in their own home. Depending on the need identified and personal circumstances, these options might include adaptations to their home, assisted living arrangements, or access to a range of residential or nursing homes.’

Best Practice Resources

Healthy Homes- Housing for people living with dementia: From policy to practice in Greater Manchester