Evidence base

The creation of our planned supported living facility will act as a blueprint for independent living with support for people with young onset dementia across the country. It is in line with a growing recognition by policy makers and care professionals that more needs to be done to address the lack of appropriate care for people with dementia.

Globally the World Health Organisation/Alzheimer’s Disease International led the call for dementia to be treated as a public health and social priority in its report Dementia. A Public Health Priority, published in 2012. The UK government launched its Dementia Challenge in 2012 and is working to make improvements to health and social care as well as promote better awareness of the needs of people with dementia.

The Dementia Friends campaign run jointly by Public Health England and the Alzheimer’s Society is making good progress educating people about the small things they can do to help people with dementia in their community and we will be promoting this ethos in the communities where we work.

YoungDementia UK Homes has undertaken a thorough review of the existing evidence into support for people with young onset dementia, as well as reviewed other projects which are emerging to meet their needs. Key lessons we have taken from these projects are around making services truly person and family-centred and providing people with choices about their care.

Our work will not only provide an alternative care solution for people with young onset dementia who can no longer live at home, but we hope will address some of the stigma which people with dementia experience – highlighted in the Alzheimer’s Society and Mental Health Foundation’s report Out of the Shadows.

We are looking forward to sharing the learning and best practice from our model of support once it is launched and we have evaluated its impact on quality of life.