BSI British Standards and Bradford Dementia Group at the University of Bradford lead the way in developing a standard in Dementia Care.
On 18 August 2008, members of the knowledge transfer team at Bradford Dementia Group and staff from the BSI British Standards launched a project to develop a Publicly Available Specification (PAS) in dementia care.
The Dementia Care Mapping (DCM) tool, developed by Bradford Dementia Group and used across the world to evaluate and improve care for people with dementia will form the basis for this new standard. This work will be coordinated by BSI British Standards with members of the knowledge transfer team drafting the PAS.
Paul Edwards of Bradford Dementia Group, said ‘This is a significant milestone in the development of DCM and the development of quality in dementia care. DCM has been a driver for quality improvement in dementia care for many years and having the PAS will help inform organisations nationally and internationally of how to use the DCM tool to improve care for people with dementia. It puts a marker down of what should be expected in terms of quality in using the DCM tool and will help organisations strive to improve practice. Dementia Care is an area of healthcare that deserves higher standards in quality than currently exist. The PAS is the first step in the right direction.’
The PAS steering group is headed by Professor Dawn Brooker of Bradford Dementia Group and she is supported by her colleagues Paul Edwards and Dr Claire Surr. Malcolm Purdie of the University of Bradford’s Knowledge and Business Transfer Unit has played a key role in supporting this work. Mr Chris Bell and Ms Bhavisha Patel of BSI British Standards will be co-ordinating the development of the PAS. The work is expected to be completed by mid June 2009.
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