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Dementia United: Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership’s programme for dementia

In Greater Manchester, system leaders are committed to making a difference in the experience of dementia and delirium. Dementia United is Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership’s programme for dementia which also includes the Delirium Programme.

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Introduction

In Greater Manchester, system leaders are committed to making a difference in the experience of dementia and delirium. Dementia United is Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership’s programme for dementia which also includes the Delirium Programme. Dementia United is overseen by the Greater Manchester Dementia Strategic Group, chaired by the NHS GM Deputy Chief Medical Officer.

Strategic plan

Dementia United, has a shared vision and ambition; to improve the experience of being diagnosed and living with dementia, and make Greater Manchester the best place to live for all those affected by dementia. The programme works with partners across Greater Manchester to deliver meaningful reform and quality improvement. 

Greater Manchester’s Dementia and Brain Health Strategic Delivery Plan 2023-25 sets out the key strategic aims and project delivery areas within the programme. The pledges and commitments within the strategy were co-designed, following a public event in Greater Manchester, with people affected by dementia. 

Central to the programme are people with lived experience of dementia and family carers through the Dementia Carers Expert Reference Group. As part of this dynamic, evolving model, co-design events have taken place in 2024 to develop a ‘live well’ offer for dementia which will inform Dementia United’s refreshed Dementia and Brain Health Delivery Plan from 2025, along with other key strategic priorities.

Implementation

The development and implementation of the Greater Manchester Strategic Dementia programme is co-ordinated by the Dementia United programme team, reporting to the Locality Implementation Forum which includes representation from the 10 Greater Manchester localities. 

Vital to the quality improvement approach is the Manchester Dementia Dashboard; this includes key data to inform the development of dementia action plans in localities. As part of NHS Greater Manchester’s robust governance structure, the programme formally reports into the Greater Manchester Mental Health Partnership Group and also feeds into NHS Greater Manchester Clinical Effectiveness and Governance Committee. 

This formal structure is further supported through clinical and professional networks, relationship management and co-production. To ensure strategic alignment, Dementia United also link to NHS England at regional and national level.

Outcomes

  • System-wide adoption of dementia quality standards: The Dementia United team co-designed NHS GM’s Dementia and Brain Health Quality Standards to strengthen and drive consistency, quality of care and action across Greater Manchester. These 18 high-level standards provide a shared vision for everyone in the city region. The standards are designed to act as a benchmark from which to drive quality improvement and reform. These are being implemented through multi agency self-assessment workshops in each of the Greater Manchester localities. This supports our overall aim to reduce unwarranted variation in the quality of care and experience for those affected by dementia and will drive local dementia action plans in a consistent way.
  • Digitised Dementia Wellbeing Plans: proof of value and implementation:. The work to digitise the existing paper-based dementia wellbeing plans was designed to reduce variability of care across the region. Dementia United collaborated with experts by experience to ensure that content focused on the priorities for people living with dementia and carers. The plan promotes personalised planning conversations with people living with dementia and carers about their needs and wants. The plan also facilitates greater integration and information-sharing across the health and social care system, including Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) partners. Based on this successful process which met its agreed targets, the plan is now to work with colleagues in other localities to seek to expand this approach further across Greater Manchester.
  • Delirium programme: NHS GM is undertaking system work on acute deterioration secondary to sepsis and delirium. The GM delirium programme has produced a broad range of practical outcomes, including a delirium carers top tips guide and film, and the delivery of co-produced family members/carers’ training, which 75 people attended. 175 people attended the annual Greater Manchester best practice webinar and Greater Manchester toolkits were updated and made accessible. Delirium leaflets were translated into 16 languages and made available in video, audio and written formats in order to address accessibility and inclusivity, with very positive feedback. Our work on delirium in Greater Manchester has contributed to international resources, for example, Regional Geriatric Programme in Toronto, Delirium pathway. National contributions include the High Impact Change Model, and the DeNPRU delirium policy review (which included experts by experience from Greater Manchester).
  • Improving dementia diagnosis: Dementia United works to improve the experience of being diagnosed and living with dementia through our Dementia and Brain Health Delivery Plan. At 74.4 per cent (in July 2024), the dementia diagnosis rate for Greater Manchester is significantly above the NHS’s 66.7 per cent target, and above the England level of 65.2 per cent. Detailed work to understand any local variation has been carried out through a multi-agency group, and the programme is now carrying out a deep dive to better understand the experience from the perspective of young onset and rarer forms of dementia.
  • Holistic partnership work, from prevention, to palliative and end of life care, research and innovation: Dementia United connects people working in different parts of the system, leading projects, building mutual understanding and reinforcing a culture of collaboration, innovation, learning and change. A range of networks and multi-agency project groups support quality improvement across the pathway, including a practitioners’ network led by the Greater Manchester Dementia Clinical lead, work to support person-centred approaches to distressed behaviours, and work to support palliative and end of life care. We are also working with colleagues in the Greater Manchester person centred and community approaches team, creative health teams, and the Ageing Hub, to develop a `Live Well’ offer for dementia. Live Well is Greater Manchester’s movement for community-led health and wellbeing.
  • Dementia Research Action Group – known as DRAGON: Dementia United has teamed up with the University of Manchester to increase access to the benefits of dementia research through awareness involvement and participation, particularly from underserved groups.