Dementia Support - East Cheshire Hospice

Dementia Support

Welcome to East Cheshire Hospice Dementia Services. We are proud to offer a variety of different services to families experiencing dementia in our local community.

If you, or someone you know is eligible and would like to receive dementia support from East Cheshire Hospice, please fill out the dementia services referral form online.

You can find out more about our dementia services below. Referral criteria and other resources are also available to download at the bottom of the page.

Dementia Carers Wellbeing Programme

Our Dementia Carer Wellbeing Course has been running successfully since 2015 and is a structured eight-week wellbeing and support programme open to carers of people experiencing dementia. What is unique about our programme is that the carer can bring the person experiencing dementia with them to our Sunflower Centre, where our trained dementia buddy volunteers will support them whilst the carer can attend the wellbeing programme, gain peer support, education, knowledge, skills and confidence about dementia and their caring role. The course currently runs 3 times a year in January, May and September. From May 2024 courses will run in Macclesfield, Knutsford, Poynton, Wilmslow and Congleton.

Benefits of attendance to this programme include; developing resilience, enhancing current coping strategies, developing new ones, sharing experiences, having some respite and gaining peer support from others in similar circumstances.

Inclusion criteria

Carer being referred has a GP in East Cheshire.

Carer provides regular care support to the person experiencing dementia.

Access

Please complete our referral form at the bottom of this page and email or post to the details on the form.

Hospice Dementia Nurse

At East Cheshire our Dementia Nurse can provide 1:1 support to enable a person experiencing dementia to live well with their dementia. This can include reviews, assessments and liasing with other professionals to resolve current issues.

Inclusion criteria

Person diagnosed is already in receipt of an Hospice service.

Access

Internal referrals only

Community Dementia Companion Service

Our Community Dementia Companion Service’s primary purpose is to offer carers some respite from their caring role by giving companionship to people in the earlier stages of dementia. Our trained community dementia volunteers (CDCs) will offer companionship and opportunities for the person experiencing dementia to maintain their interests and social activities, either at home or in the local area if suitable. Visits last 2 hours and are usually once per week. Visits are planned in partnership with the person and their carer so the carer has a chance to recharge their batteries by doing something enjoyable for themselves.

Benefits of this service are improvements to wellbeing for the person living with dementia and their carer. Ensuring we have rest and relaxation, spending time doing things we enjoy is imperative to maintain good wellbeing for us all. This service gives people the chance to achieve this.

Inclusion criteria

Person being referred has a GP in East Cheshire.

Person experiencing dementia lives with their carer.

Person living with dementia is in mild stages of dementia.

Person living with dementia is independent (see full criteria link below for further information).

Access

Please complete referral form at the bottom of this page and email or post to the details on the form.

Singing Together

“Patients don’t necessarily have to dance and the sessions definitely have a positive impact on people. Some might not communicate as much, but if the right song comes on it just triggers something and suddenly they’re up dancing.”

Music is extremely powerful in re-establishing lost connections in those living with dementia due to how the brain stores things with a rhythm separately to how it stores everyday vocabulary. This means a person who may now struggle with conversation can still sing along to the words of a song. By going through this process, it uplifts and brings a sense of joy and improvement to wellbeing, for anyone who takes parts, not just the person living with dementia.

Music, along with exercise and nutrition, are the most underutilised tools in dementia care. Singing Together is a chance, once a month, to experience that feeling (you don’t need to be a good singer, it’s all about joining in as much or little as you want) and reminisce about your favourite songs.

“Someone may be losing their ability to have a conversation and forget certain words, yet put a song on and they can remember all the words. The brain remembers anything with rhythm differently to everyday language. Singing helps trigger memories.”

The service runs 10.30 – 12.00 on the first Friday of each month but requires booking.

It is intended that the person with dementia and their loved one will participate together in the session

Inclusion criteria

Person being referred has a GP in East Cheshire.

Person living with dementia attends with their carer.

Access

Please contact 01625 666 990 to confirm a place.

Click here to read a news story on our Singing Together group.

Love to Move Programme

Love to Move is like brain gymnastics. It’s specially designed to get older people moving and functioning better. The programme achieves this by carefully integrating the use of gymnastic foundation skills, cognitive stimulation therapy and social interaction activities. Almost every part of Love to Move is based on bilaterally asymmetrical movement patterns. This is understood to benefit older people and those with dementia and mild cognitive impairment, by enabling the left side and right side of the brain to process information independently; thus improving cognitive function, coordination and the ability to carry out activities of daily living more independently.

it is aimed at older people from 55 +. Love to Move particularly benefits older people living with dementia to improve communication, mobility, building stamina and increasing wellbeing.

It is intended that the person with dementia and their loved one will participate together in the session

Inclusion criteria

Both person experiencing dementia and their care have a GP in East Cheshire.

Person experiencing dementia attends with their carer.

Access

Please contact 01625 666 990 to confirm a place.

End Stages of Dementia Carers Talk

Learn about how to recognise if someone experiencing dementia might be in their last year of life, and if they are, where in last year of life they could be.

The session openly discusses death and dying and preparing for end of life care

The session is open to carers who have a GP within the Hospice’s catchment area.

Sessions currently run ad hoc when there are enough people registered.

To register your interest in attending please visit www.eastcheshirehospice.org.uk/registration-for-end-stages-of-dementia-carers-talk

East Cheshire Hospice is committed to improving the lives of local people living with dementia and their carers and development of specific services is included in the Hospice’s five-year strategy. We are committed to increasing the availability and effectiveness of all our existing dementia services, launch new services and improve the ‘dementia friendliness’ of our organisation as a whole.

How to donate to East Cheshire Hospice

Thank you so much for choosing to support East Cheshire Hospice. You may never know how much your gift means, but we know that it will make the world of difference to our patients and their families.