The Scottish Government has published a 10-year national dementia strategy, “Everyone’s Story”, which was developed over a period of eight months of engagement with people across Scotland, including people with lived experienced. These include support pre- and post-diagnosis, actions to enable more people to live well in their communities, involving people who are affected in the design and delivery of their own support, as well as access to care and support from a skilled and trauma-informed workforce when appropriate The strategy commits to tackling stigma as a priority and will do this by developing and agreeing two-year delivery plans to ensure progress is made against the ambitions of the strategy.
The first pf these plans is to be published at the end of this year. The strategy outlines a vision with five key points:
• Dementia is recognised in public health and in practice as disease of the brain that affects a person’s whole life and those close to them
• Policy makers, support and service providers, communities and society all have an understanding of dementia, including the importance of prevention and early detection
• People living with dementia and their care partners/unpaid carers have equity of access to high quality, information and advice, evidence-based treatment, care and support when and where they need it
• The human rights of people living with dementia and their care partners are upheld throughout the duration of their illness
• People are supported by a skilled and knowledgeable workforce with access the highest quality dementia specialist education and training.
The strategy is available to download at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/new-dementia-strategy-scotland-everyones-story/documents/