Dementia: Quality of Care 2016

1. Lara Lill
ASA Head of Health and Wellbeing

3. ASA Health
and Wellbeing

4. Clear intentions and impact
• Build a network of dementia friendly pools
• Enhance the swimming experience and increase
participation
• Improve insight into motivations, barriers and
perceptions
• Supporting the PM dementia challenge
• Produce guidance for pools and those in health
care provision

5. Independence
Feeling free in water &
able to do movements
impossible on land
Social connection
Belonging to a
community of fellow
swimmers
Once in the water, swimming delivers much deeper rewards
Our audience experience an EQUALITY IN THE WATER
that they can miss taking part in other activities & in life in
general
Empowerment
A time to just feel like
yourself, not your
impairment
Relaxation & enjoyment –
including relieving pain
On the surface, swimming is recognised to offer relevant
benefits:
Less risky fitness activity (low
impact) - reinforced by health
care professionals

6. dementia swimming
Produced with Pete by the
Dementia Design Consultancy
www.dementia.design

7. Common issues
• Poor signage and lack of way-finding cues
• Poor use of colour and contrast
• Unhelpful lighting – glare and pooling
• Shiny floors
• Clutter and distractions
• No personalisation of space

8. Find the ‘me’ in dementia
• Innovation : small change = big difference
• Re-design customer areas and create ownership of
the environment
• Impact of dementia
• Fewer choices and fewer options
• Reduce distractions
• Need calm and reassurance
• Appropriate balance of stimulation
• Memory prompts and props

9. What has made the most difference?
1. Increase swimming’s visibility and relevance
• Training of front of house, all staff, cascade ‘Step Inside’
2. Improve the overall environment
• Reception, changing rooms, pool
3. Tailor the offer to different needs
• Aqua Relax, public sessions
4. Monitoring and evaluation
• Centralised audit of participant recruitment and
retention
• Case studies using interviews
• Qualitative research to assess personal challenges and
benefits
• Pre and post comparison group

10. Collaboration
• Change in attitudes and behaviours
• Breaking new ground – innovative and stronger
partnerships indicating local leadership is key to
success
• Raising profile of dementia and swimming – ability
to deliver strategic priorities
• Contributing to Age Friendly neighbourhoods and
cities

11. Why is the approach so
distinctive?
• New and unique collaborations between a broad
range of partners and sectors
• Enhance skills of the sector through excellent
training, wider application beyond the programme
• New work area, increase the appetite of
professionals to deliver more specific activities
• Focussed remit, dedicated resources and is well
placed in the local authority
• Its exploratory and evolutionary rather than
prescribed