‘Dementia Dekh Bhaal’, meaning ‘to care for dementia’, was set up by tide – together in dementia everyday. 

We were commissioned by the HMR Clinical Commissioning Group and Rochdale Borough Council to review their dementia offer. The report ‘Strategic Review of Local Dementia Support’ was submitted in March 2016 and included a section on the needs of ethnically diverse communities, with a recommendation that commissioners should:

‘Invest in the development of a sustainable programme of work with the local ethnically diverse communities to identify Ethnically Diverse Community Champions to establish a coordinated model of education, advice, help and support for their local communities, building on the good practice from Liverpool and Bradford. It is particularly important to ensure that you engage and develop local community champions.’

In 2018 the CCG and the Council commissioned the Dementia Dekh Bhaal project to address the needs of South Asian carers. Specifically, the three strategic aims of the project were:

1. Develop and deliver a training package for professionals to understand more about the approaches to take for ethnically diverse people with dementia and their carers to provide more culturally competent care.
2. Campaign to increase awareness within the community, general public and public-sector staff around BAME dementia including a suite of material to support local carers in campaigning work and provide them with the knowledge, skills and confidence to do this with impact.
3. the power of stories to change perceptions including the creation of a suite of videos capturing the experiences of people with dementia and their carers.

It is clear from this evaluation that a key success of Dementia Dekh Bhaal has been the carers sharing their stories

You can watch three different carers share their stories in the three films from a home maker, a working professional and a carer with complex health needs himself.