Can Gerry Robinson fix dementia care homes?

Published 8 December 2009

Businessman Sir Gerry Robinson will return to BBC Two tonight (Tuesday, 15 December 2009) in a new two part series, Can Gerry Robinson Fix Dementia Care Homes.

Supported by Alzheimer's Society, Sir Gerry Robinson enters three struggling care homes in a mission to introduce small changes that make a big difference.

One in three people over 65 will die with dementia and people with dementia are likely to enter a care home as their condition progresses. Alzheimer's Society evidence shows there are huge inequalities in standards of residential care. A typical person with dementia in a care home spends just two minutes in every six hours socially interacting with other people. Most of these residents are in the advanced stages of dementia and rely on the support of trained staff.

In an article for the Radio Times Sir Gerry writes:

'Some of the care provided is brilliant, but most of it is decidedly average and an alarming proportion is downright appalling. It is widely accepted that, although the ability to memorise or record something can totally fail for people with dementia the capacity to feel remains strong. They feel joy, excitement, pleasure, pain, hurt, anger, loneliness or hopelessness and feel them intensely. This makes our duty of care to them vital.
'Why then do we so often leave them in soulless rooms, bored, with nothing to do and with little personal contact? According to Alzheimer's Society the average time a person with dementia in a care home spends in meaningful connection with another person is less than two minutes in six hours. From my experience in looking at homes, this statistic doesn't surprise me.'

Neil Hunt Chief Executive of Alzheimer's Society says,

'Hundreds of thousands of people with dementia are living in residential care and yet the majority of staff do not have adequate training. We hear the horror stories, but also the hope among people with dementia and their carers about the difference good dementia care can make. We hope this documentary will be instrumental in raising awareness of what good care is and challenging our perception of what care homes should be like.

Everyone has a role to play in challenging poor quality care in care homes. We must work together to ensure every care home has the highest quality of care.'

Find out more at alzheimers.org.uk/gerryrobinson