We will be joined by colleagues from Alzheimer Scotland in this webinar session to guide care home members in supporting families and friends of residents as the new Open with Care visiting guidance comes into place. You can find out more about Alzheimer Scotland’s work in this below.

This webinar will take place on Thursday 15 April 2021 at 3PM, our CEO Dr Donald Macaskill will be joined by Jim Pearson (Director of Policy & Research) and Lorna Hart-Thomson (Action on Rights Team Lead) from Alzheimer Scotland.

Details to join this webinar session will be available on the Members Area of this website. 

Alzheimer Scotland has established a new Action on Rights team, funded by the Scottish Government. Throughout the pandemic, their frontline staff and 24 hour Freephone Dementia Helpline have been immersed in supporting people deal with the impact of the lockdown measures. Much of this support has been assisting people with relatives living in care homes. This has involved helping people understand the evolving care home visiting guidance, and in some cases helping to facilitate visits or meaningful contact with loved ones. During this time, they have also continued to support thousands of people with dementia and their families and carers living at home, through a combination of therapeutic interventions, online groups, wellbeing calls and home visits. This new team will build on all of their existing support and provides an extra level of dedicated support for those families with loved ones living in care homes.

The Action on Rights team will support implementation of the Scottish Government’s new Open with Care visiting guidance for care homes and offer emotional and practical support to families and friends of people living in care homes and who are experiencing high levels of anxiety and trauma as a result of the lack of meaningful contact. The Action on Rights team will be able to provide advice on the new care home visiting guidance and help families have informed discussions with the care home staff who are responsible for arranging care home visits. If needed, the team will liaise with care home staff to help facilitate meaningful visits (within any relevant restrictions) and essential visits. The team will work with families to help arrange meaningful contact in a way that avoids, or when necessary, resolves conflict.

More details on the Action on Rights team can be found here. This service is available to anyone who has a relative or friend who is resident in a care home in Scotland. You can access the Action on Rights team by calling the 24 hour Freephone Dementia Helpline on 0808 808 3000 or emailing [email protected].