Introduction
At Tidal Living, we provide specialised care for individuals with dementia and Alzheimer’s as part of our care provision, informed by NICE guidance, CQC regulations and evidence-based practice.
This article aims to explore what dementia and Alzheimer’s are, which care and support services are most appropriate for these conditions and the support we offer at Tidal Living for service users with dementia and Alzheimer’s.
What are Dementia and Alzheimer’s?
According to the NHS, dementia is an umbrella term for a group of progressive conditions which cause characteristic symptoms, including amnesia (memory loss), confusion and changes in communication or behaviour. These conditions include Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, and mixed dementia, which is a combination of two or more types of dementia.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia; it is thought to be caused by the build-up of 2 proteins called amyloid and tau proteins, which form deposits in the brain around brain neurones (amyloid) and form ‘tangles’ within neurones (tau). The hippocampus, an area of the brain responsible for forming and consolidating new memories is commonly affected first in Alzheimer’s, which means that people with Alzheimer’s often report issues with forming new memories or remembering previous information as one of their earliest symptoms at, or around the time of, their diagnosis.
According to the Alzheimer’s Society, about 982,000 people in the UK live with dementia today; by 2040, it is projected that about 1.4 million people in the UK will live with dementia. Thus, dementia affects almost every family and community in the UK.
In a 2024 report, Carers UK notes that millions of people provide unpaid care to their family members, friends and/or neighbours due to a disability or illness. This can put them at risk of financial strain, loneliness and health issues, particularly as unpaid carers tend to provide 50 hours of care or more to the people they care for, weekly.
A 2022 report by the Centre for Care notes that the support unpaid carers provide for individuals with disabilities and/or illnesses is estimated to have a value of £162 billion annually. These figures reinforce the importance of effective, safe care provision for individuals with dementia and Alzheimer’s, as long-term cognitive conditions.
Care and Support We Offer:
At Tidal Living, our approach to care and support for dementia and Alzheimer’s is evidence-based, and aims to provide care for individuals with dementia and Alzheimer’s at home, support family caregivers, and deliver care to the highest standard, ensuring service users with dementia and Alzheimer’s and their loved ones receive safe, effective care provision.
At Tidal Living, our carers, whether live-in or hourly visiting carers, use secure e-MAR digital electronic medication records to log medication administration, prompt carers timely to refill their service users’ medications, and flag side-effects of these medicines. Key facts and figures by Carers UK show electronic records can cut medication-error rates in homecare settings by more than 80 percent. Our Director of Technology and Innovation, Umar Alvi oversees e-MAR implementation and governance.
At Tidal Living, we offer a range of non-pharmacological support for individuals with dementia and Alzheimer’s including music therapy, which has been demonstrated to reduce agitation and reduce the use of sedative medicines, as well as reminiscence therapy, where service users can share photos, music, or life stories and environment modifications, following the SCIE (Social Care Institute for Excellence) dementia-friendly environmental guidelines such as labelling doors clearly, improving home lighting and removing fall and trip hazards to reduce the risk of falling and tripping.
According to the Cochrane Library, reminiscence therapy can lift service users’ mood and engagement; individual music sessions have been demonstrated to lower agitation and even reduce the need for sedating medicines.
A survey by the Homecare Association notes that a sizeable proportion of service users (35%) state that they would prefer home care to residential care.
As a domiciliary care provider, Tidal Living provides evidence-based in-home care to service users with Alzheimer’s and dementia in accordance with CQC regulations and NICE guidance, including live-in care, hourly care, emergency care and respite care for family members.
