Case study: making personal choice top priority in dementia care

One size can never fit all. While councils are adopting tools and processes to personalise services, they must ensure that the way they use those tools makes their services more personal where it really counts – at the point people experience them. Good quality plans, strategies and reconfigured services are all vitally important, but if someone’s immediate carer isn’t working in a person-centred way, then high level strategies won’t make much difference to the person on the receiving end. This is particularly true of people with dementia. Recently, over 73 organisations committed to a Dementia Action Alliance that will work towards transforming the quality of life of people living with dementia in the UK. Amongst their declarations was a commitment to delivering personal choice and support that is designed around the person and that helps them live the life they want and be part of a community.