Burstow – ‘Antipsychotics must be reduced or the law will be changed’   7/11/11

Reduction in the use of antipsychotic medication targets are not being met and Care Services Minister Paul Burstow has said that the amount of drugs used on people with dementia needs to be drastically reduced by as much as two-thirds.

The announcement was aimed at GPs, but it will have considerable impacts on the care industry as a whole as antipsychotics are often used to manage behaviours that challenge in care homes. Other methods will be needed to support people with dementia, other than resorting to the ‘chemical cosh’, including allowing people to move around their care setting freely and allowing them to do what they are capable of and wish to do.

MyAmego has been used by Barchester Healthcare to support and evidence their antipsychotic reduction programme and to help care teams to enable residents to move around freely while helping carers to manage social risks arising from behaviours that challenge between residents.

Lansley sends in CQC...Are you ready?    27/10/2011  

The Health Secretary has asked the Care Quality Care Commission to carry out more inspections which will focus on privacy, nutrition and other "core dignity issues" following a damning report by the Commission which raised serious concerns about the treatment of older patients many of whom have cognitive impairments such as dementia and learning difficulties.

Mr Lansley said "Where there is great care, we will celebrate it. But wherever there are pockets of poor performance, we will root it out," and added "Too often, we deny the experience of patients and their family members who have been at the sharp end of appalling treatment."

If you had MyAmego in your care home, assisted living, supported housing or hospital – poor performance in these core areas  and CQC spot checks should not be a cause for concern.

MyAmego has proven to enable care homes and other care settings to deliver on enabling residents and service users, to allow them privacy and dignity and to measure and evidence staff performance in delivering consistent care.

Contact MyAmego Healthcare today on 01353 741545 or email info@myamego.com

USA Health and Ageing Trade Mission 2011

UKTI is offering a unique opportunity for UK companies with prognostic, diagnostic, therapeutic, medical, or monitoring technologies to meet key stakeholders in the US healthcare business community – And MyAmego has been chosen to be a part of it.

The mission will take place between 24^th and 28^th October and focuses on the ageing population of America driving the need for innovative, cost effective technologies that treat the common conditions of the elderly.

Prior to the start of the mission, we will be in Boston at the 2011 Connected Health Symposium (20^th-21^st), Driving Quality Up and Costs Down: New Technologies for an Era of Accountability, where we will be joining 1,200 health technology leaders from around the world.

Following this event, we remain in Boston for the launch of the UKTI Health and Ageing Mission which continues here until 25^th October. We then move on to San Francisco with other medtech companies to attend the Investment-In-Innovation (IN3) Medical Device Summit where MyAmego have a speakers slot on 27^th.

25th March - National Dementia Strategy Team visit care homes in Lincolnshire to see MyAmego in action

Two Lincolnshire care homes welcomed a visit from Professor Alistair Burns, National Clinical Director for Dementia, to see first-hand how the innovative MyAmego system supports a person-centred approach to dementia care.

The two homes, working in partnership with Lincolnshire County Council who funded the installation of the system in three homes in Lincolnshire, are a using MyAmego to explore how the system benefits residents, carers and families.

Deborah Shepherd, Lincolnshire Council Commissioning and Development Officer hosted the visitors at Yew Tree in Dowsby,along with Owner Angela Stephens,and explained that the project is being conducted under Objective 11 of the National Dementia Strategy; 'Living well with dementia in care homes' - and the Lincolnshre Priority Statement 9 'Good quality care homes which are suitable and welcoming for people with dementia.' The project also looks at the financial benefits of the system in such areas as medication management, reduction in antipsychotic medications, reduction in hospitalisation and care and nursing requirements. The reporting features of MyAmego will be used to measure outcomes for residentsand to evidence care delivery for quality and statutory reports/inspections.

The visitors then moved on to Barchester's home at Bourne,where they were hosted by CEO, Mike Parsons. Here Jayne Scotney, Head of Memory Lane and Sheena Wyllie, Director of Dementia Care discussed some of the benefits of using the system they had already identified.

Professor Burns was joined by other dementia ambassadors, Professor Dawn Brooker from the University of Worcester and Martin Green, Chief Executive of the English Community Care Association (ECCA), and said: " I was extremely impressed at the high quality of care offered in Wood Grange, the person centred approach of all the staff coupled with the innovative use of technology, of which MyAmego is an example, to improve the quality of life of the residents."

At Barchester's Wood Grange in Bourne MyAmego supports the resident and Memory Lane Team with its person-centred system and provides information which assists in decision making, care planning and enabling freedom of choice. For example, over a fixed period MyAmego can effectively enable and observe a resident’s independent mobility, monitor night-time activity and care, and enhance social interaction between residents. These results, coupled with ongoing care from staff mean that swift and positive changes can be made to tailor a resident’s care plan and wellbeing.

Sheena Wyllie, Director of Dementia Care at Barchester, said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Lincolnshire County Council on this programme."

Sheena added “This device is already showing countless positives, including: reducing over intervention and use of antipsychotic medication, allowing care staff more time for individual engagement and increasing the day-to-day mobility of many people involved in the project. Barchester is always looking at new methods and research to improve the standard of care it provides and MyAmego is a great example of this.”