Articles

Selecting ECM Software for Dementia Care Services

Dementia care services need ECM software that supports life history, changing cognition, communication, distress, medication and family involvement. This article explains how providers can assess system fit for dementia care...

Recording & Evidencing Person-Centred Care: A 7-Part Featured Practitioner Series

Person-centred care must be visible in records, not just intentions. This Featured Practitioner Series explores how providers evidence choice, control and individuality in care plans, daily notes and reviews so...

Co-Producing Dementia Support With Families: Roles, Boundaries and Safe Decision-Making

Co-production with families is essential in dementia care, but it fails without clear roles, boundaries and review points. This article explains how to involve families in planning and risk decisions,...

Life History Work in Dementia Care: Turning Biographical Knowledge Into Daily Practice

Life history work only adds value when it changes what staff do on an ordinary shift. This article sets out an operational method for gathering, validating and using biographical information...

Reviewing and Updating Dementia Support Plans as Needs Change

Dementia support plans must evolve as cognition, risk and health needs change. This article explains how to structure review cycles, involve families appropriately, and evidence timely plan updates to meet...

Managing Risk in Person-Centred Dementia Support: Enabling Safety Without Over-Restriction

Risk management in dementia services must balance autonomy and safety without defaulting to blanket restrictions. This article explains how to build person-centred risk enablement plans, embed them in daily routines,...

Person-Centred Dementia Communication Plans: Reducing Distress and Improving Daily Decision-Making

Communication breakdown is one of the fastest routes to distress, incidents, and restrictive responses in dementia services. This article explains how to build person-centred communication plans that staff can use...

Strengths-Based Dementia Support Planning: Maintaining Independence While Managing Risk

Strengths-based planning in dementia care is not “being optimistic” — it is a structured way to maintain ability, reduce avoidable dependency, and manage risk proportionately. This article sets out how...

Co-Producing Dementia Support Plans With People and Families

Co-production in dementia services requires structured involvement of people and families throughout assessment, review and risk decisions. This article explains how to operationalise co-produced planning, manage changing capacity and evidence...

Life History Work in Dementia Care: Turning Personal Knowledge Into Daily Practice

Life history work in dementia services must shape daily routines, communication and risk decisions, not sit unused in files. This article explains how providers operationalise life story information, embed it...

Turning “What Matters” Into Practice: Operationalising Person-Centred Dementia Support

Person-centred dementia planning only works when “what matters” shapes daily routines, communication and risk decisions. This article explains how providers translate personal preferences into measurable practice, embed review systems and...

Strengths-Based Dementia Planning: Supporting Ability, Not Just Managing Decline

Strengths-based dementia planning is not about optimism; it is about structured recognition of retained abilities and proportionate risk management. This article explains how providers operationalise strengths-based support in daily routines,...

Dementia Governance During Change: Managing Provider Transfers, Staffing Disruption and Continuity Risks

Dementia services are most fragile during change: new staff, provider transfers, hospital discharge pressures, and shifting risk profiles. This article explains how to govern dementia care during disruption, including continuity...

Dementia Quality Governance: Audit Cycles That Actually Improve Care (Not Just Paperwork)

Dementia governance fails when audits become tick-box exercises that don’t change day-to-day support. This article sets out an audit and assurance approach that improves real care quality, including what to...

CQC-Ready Dementia Governance: What Inspectors Look For and How to Evidence It

CQC judgement in dementia services depends on whether governance is active, outcomes-focused and connected to real practice. This article explains how to build CQC-ready dementia governance, including audit cycles, supervision,...

Dementia Safeguarding and Governance: Turning Concerns Into Controlled Risk

Safeguarding in dementia services is often complicated by fluctuating capacity, communication barriers and high vulnerability to exploitation. This article explains how to run dementia safeguarding with strong governance, including thresholds,...

Managing Risk in Dementia Services Without Over-Restricting People

Dementia services must balance safety with autonomy as cognition changes. This article sets out how to manage everyday risk proportionately, including wandering, falls, medication and self-neglect, while evidencing least restrictive...

Audit-Ready Dementia Care: Building Evidence That Quality Is Real

Dementia care quality must be visible in records, routines and decisions, not just policy. This article explains how to build audit-ready evidence in dementia services, including what to record, how...

Life History Work in Dementia Care: Turning Knowledge Into Daily Practice

Life history work is often gathered but rarely used well. This article explains how dementia services can translate life history information into meaningful daily support, reduce distress, and evidence person-centred...

Co-Producing Dementia Support Plans With People and Families

Co-production in dementia planning goes beyond consultation. This article explains how to involve people with dementia and families meaningfully in support planning, how roles change over time, and how services...

Strengths-Based Dementia Planning: Supporting Ability, Not Just Managing Decline

Strengths-based planning in dementia services is often misunderstood as being “overly optimistic” or unrealistic. This article explains how to identify retained abilities, embed them into daily support, manage risk proportionately,...

Person-Centred Planning in Dementia Services: Turning “What Matters” Into Daily Practice

Person-centred planning in dementia services fails when it stays as paperwork instead of guiding day-to-day decisions. This article shows how to translate “what matters” into routines, communication approaches, risk enablement...

One-Page Profiles: More Than Just a Tool

One-page profiles aren’t just paperwork — they’re a foundation for tailoring support and showing commissioners how well you understand each person.

How to Tailor Support to People’s Strengths, Not Just Their Needs

Learn how to tailor social care support to people’s strengths, not just their needs. Practical tips for delivering person-centred services that build confidence and capability.

Person-Centred Planning Isn’t Just a Form — It’s a Conversation

Planning support around the person means going deeper than paperwork — it starts with meaningful conversations.

Why Person-Centred Support Plans Should Never Be Cut-and-Paste

Personalisation gets lost when support plans are copied and pasted. This blog explores how to make plans truly individual — and why it matters in tenders and inspections.

Embedding Choice and Control in Everyday Support

True person-centred support means more than one-off choices — it’s about embedding control into daily life, routines, and decisions.

“What Would a Good Day Look Like?” — The Most Important Question in Support Planning

This simple question unlocks person-centred thinking, meaningful outcomes, and tailored support that goes far beyond basic care plans.

Co-Production Isn’t a Buzzword — It’s a Mindset

Blog 7 of 7 in our Person-Centred Approaches: Core Principles & Values mini-series. This post explains what co-production looks like when it is embedded across planning, recruitment and governance. It...

Control, Choice and Consent: Foundations of Person-Centred Support

Blog 4 of 7 in our Person-Centred Approaches: Core Principles & Values mini-series. This article explores how control, choice and consent must be embedded in daily practice, governance and risk...