A Wealth of Experience

- Working with Younger People with Dementia

An account of this National Conference by Patrick Nethercot, volunteer with Durham and Chester-le-Street AS.

Registration The Durham and Chester-le-Street Branch was privileged to play host to the National Conference on Younger People with Dementia on 4th November, 1998. An impressive array of speakers and workshop leaders was lined up for the conference, held at Trevelyan College (part of Durham University) in the City of Durham.

Those who arrived early enough were given a welcome cup of coffee after registration, and the lists for the workshops were put up.

Prof. Ken Wilson introduces the conference

Chair for the day was Professor Ken Wilson of Old Age Psychiatry, Wirral and West Cheshire NHS Trust, St Catherine's Hospital.

Councillor Lines opens the Conference

He introduced the Chairman of Chester-le-Street District Council, Councillor John Lines with Mrs Lines, both of whom have strong links with the branch. Councillor Lines declared the conference open.

Dr. Tony Elliot

The first speaker in the main hall was Dr. Tony Elliot, Consultant Psychiatrist at the Rowans Unit in Shrewsbury. His interesting talk took the conference through the difficult steps of setting up a specialist service, gathering resources and getting people to listen. It was heartening though to hear of his success and the growth of the Rowans and the help it gives to those suffering from dementia.

Michelle Murray

A somewhat similar story was told by Michelle Murray, who, undaunted by the failure of the technology to present her prepared computer driven presentation, won the hearts of the conference with her moving and frank account of her experience as a nurse specialising in the early onset of dementia in Manchester.

Dr. Devakuma

After coffee, conference was enlightened and entertained by Dr. Devakuma, Consultant in Old Age Psychiatry at Bangor in North Wales. Having humbly described himself as an "NHS hack", his talk clearly illustrated he was anything but, and the practical guidelines he had developed in the field (and even under fire!) for the diagnosis assessment of early dementia were extremely valuable.

Dr. Richard Harvey

Conference was due to hear a French view of Fontotemporal Dementias from Dr. Florence Lebert from Lille, but she was unable to make it, but we were very fortunate in that Dr. Richard Harvey, Consultant Psychiatrist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neuropsychiatry in London, already scheduled to give a presentation on What Happens after the Research is Over, was able to step into the breach. Both his talks were extremely full and detailed, with a wealth of information and examples, demonstrated by the computer technology, now working again. The wide range of different kinds of dementias and their differing effects was demonstrated with video and analysis of sufferers. The aim of using the knowledge to help sufferers now and in the future was a feature of his second presentation.

Conference adjourned for a superb buffet lunch, tables groaning under the weight of the high quality and wide range of food provided.

After lunch, conference split into workshops of which there were six.

Workshop Title	Leader
Commissioning integrated services for younger people with dementia	Martin Penfold
Considering the emotional needs of younger People with Dementia and their Carers	Claire Morris
A Go-ordinated Service for Younger People with Dementia The Struggle!	Sue Heiser
Planning Day Care From a Therapeutic Perspective	Betsy Bishop
Maintaining and Supporting the Social Identity of Younger People in the Community	Debbie Booth and Jo Alexjuk
Younger People with Dementia- Questions of Intimacy	David Sheard

Conference in the Main Hall

Reports from each venue showed that each of these was very well received, and many people expressed a desire to be in two - or more - places at once.

Hilary Woolley talking to Ken Wilson

Conference gathered again in the main hall to hear the very moving account given by Hilary Woolley as a carer, in the form of an interview by Prof. Ken Wilson. Much of what was said was inevitably of a very personal nature, and is not repeated here, but Hilary earned the respect of everybody in the hall for her courage in caring and again for being prepared, at some emotional cost, to share it with conference. A very brave woman.

Clive Evers

The last item was Clive Evers, Director of Information for the Alzheimer's Disease Society, launching the "Younger People with Dementia Special Projects Grants". This amount of £125,000 is available for innovative projects, preferably in areas where facilities are currently limited, to help younger people with dementia. Details of this scheme are available from National Office.

At the end of the conference, it fell to Professor Wilson again to wind up the proceedings and give conference's thanks to all concerned, the speakers and workshop leaders, staff at both national and branch level who had worked hard together to make the conference happen and to bring it to success.

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