North Wiltshire Dementia Service

About our service

We offer memory assessments and advise on diagnosis, treatment and signpost to other services.

We can offer advice and recommendations to the person living with memory problems and a diagnosis of dementia. We can also support/advise care home staff, carers who support people living with dementia.

We visit people in care homes and their own homes. Our length of involvement depends on each individuals needs.

About us

We are a team of mental health professionals made up of doctors, nurses, support workers, occupational therapist, consultant psychiatrists and administration staff experienced in working with people with memory concerns and dementia.

How to acess our service

People are referred to the team by GP’s, care homes and other professionals if there are concerns with memory, symptoms and behaviour related to this.

We always seek to respond to referrals in a timely manner depending on level of urgency.

We may then invite you to attend a clinic at a local health establishment or we can offer appointment online, as appropriate or in your own home.

How we work

We always aim to:

work alongside you, people who care for you other professionals to gain the best outcomes for you
agree a plan with the referrer/patient and carer as appropriate.

We will ask for your consent to liaise with your GP, other health care professionals and family about your treatment and recommendations to help your thought process (cognition), memory and mental well-being.

We may advise GPs about medication for memory/mental health well-being. Our doctors can prescribe certain medication for memory if they feel it may be helpful.

If we are concerned about you, we may need to share our concerns to other services who can help.

What we don’t do

We don’t provide funding for care packages or care homes.

How long we provide support

This depends on individual needs and treatment. It may be that after assessment, you are discharged from the service back to your GP/care home with a letter of recommendations to you, carer and the GP.

We may offer a short term period when we will come to see you more regularly at home to get to know you and keep a closer eye on how things are.

It may be that after a hospital stay we will see you at home and check on you. Or you may need more regular support.

If you are on medication prescribed by our team. then we will review you to make sure it is helping you and then we may ask your GP to taking over the prescribing.

Your named worker is: