CLEAR Dementia Care

CLEAR Dementia Care ©

CLEAR Dementia Care © was developed in the Northern Health and Social Care Trust Dementia Home Support Team (DHST).

Sometimes a person with dementia can present with behaviour that we find difficult to understand. These behaviours are often a sign of the stress and distress the person experiences as they try to cope with the daily challenges of living with their dementia.

All behaviour is a form of communication and is often driven by need. To fully understand the meaning of a person’s behaviour it is important to try and understand the behaviour from the perspective of the person with dementia.

CLEAR Dementia Care © helps us to consider all the factors that contribute to a person’s behaviour. The aim is to help us to see the whole person with dementia. When we understand the perspective of the person, we can find ways to reduce distress.   The outcome is appropriate support and enhanced quality of life for the person with dementia.

CLEAR Dementia Care © (Duffy, 2016; 2019; Duffy and Richardson, 2018) helps carers to understand behaviour in the context of the person and their environment, and identify unmet need.

• Simple assessment tools help assess what factors may be contributing to behaviour.
• The assessment and recording tools facilitate timely formulation and intervention. This enables management plans to be agreed with staff at a very early stage.
• There is simple to use paperwork to document what has been agreed.  This increases understanding and engagement.
• There are guidelines on what to include in summary information to staff and how this information should be presented to ensure staff understand it and will read it.
• Methods to help staff implement agreed plans to address identified unmet need and alleviate distress have been developed.

CLEAR Dementia Care © helps carers to see the whole person with dementia. When carers understand the perspective of the person, they can find ways to reduce distress. The outcome is better care and enhanced quality of life for the person with dementia. The entire process is kept very simple which increases understanding and engagement.  Outcomes are excellent and include; clinical outcome, clinical efficiency and service user experience.

Since implementation of CLEAR Dementia Care in the Northern Health and Social Care Trust (NHSCT) there has been over 50% reduction in the length of clinical episode and the number of face to face contacts. There have also been significant cost saving in the community, reduced inpatient admissions, length of inpatient stay and successful discharge back to the community.