Since its launch in 2014 the Oxford AHSN Dementia Clinical Network has focused on looking at unwarranted variation and facilitating improvement in memory services.
Our aim is to reduce variation in patient and carer experience and outcomes, throughout the memory assessment and post-diagnostic pathway, and support the adoption of innovations that can improve the quality of care, by working collaboratively with clinicians.
In recent years the prominence of dementia diagnosis and support has risen as a result of being the focus of the Prime Minister’s Challenges launched in 2012 and 2015 aimed at improving memory assessment and dementia support services and now with an increased emphasis on the post-diagnostic support area, as well as aiming for ‘more consistency of access, care and standards and less variation’.
The Dementia Clinical Network’s objectives align closely with these national priorities, but also respond to locally identified needs. We bring together a diverse portfolio of projects which are well-supported through active collaborations with clinical specialists in the Oxford AHSN region. Projects focus on improving dementia care (including memory assessment services, post-diagnostic services and care homes) in partnership with healthcare, social care and the voluntary sector.