dementia friendly swimming
TRANSCRIPT
Lara LillASA Head of Health and Wellbeing
Clear intentions and impact• Build a network of dementia friendly pools• Enhance the swimming experience and increase
participation• Improve insight into motivations, barriers and
perceptions• Supporting the PM dementia challenge• Produce guidance for pools and those in health
care provision
Strategies include funding of local coordinators guidance, support and sharing with other sites development of local partnerships and advisory
boards with dementia-involved agencies and charities
creation of friendly, safe, and supportive pool environments
dementia-friendly training (Step inside) for pool staff
special swimming or water exercise sessions and improved access and support during open sessions
Quick overview1. Increase swimming’s visibility and relevance
• Training of front of house, all staff, cascade ‘Step Inside’
2. Improve the overall environment• Reception, changing rooms, signposting
3. Tailor the swimming offer to different needs• Aqua relax, public sessions
4. Monitoring and evaluation• Centralised audit of participant recruitment and retention • Case studies using interviews • Qualitative research with participants and their carers to assess personal
challenges and benefits • A pre and post comparison group, health economics assessment of
effectiveness for improving quality of life • Annual lessons learned reports
Collaboration • Breaking new ground – innovative and stronger
partnerships indicating local leadership is key to success• Raising profile of dementia and swimming – ability
to deliver strategic priorities• Contributing to Age Friendly neighbourhoods and
cities
Why is the approach so distinctive?• New and unique collaborations between a broad
range of partners and sectors• Enhance skills of the sector through excellent
training, wider application beyond the programme• New work area, increase the appetite of
professionals to deliver more specific activities• Focussed remit, dedicated resources and is well
placed in the local authority• Its exploratory and evolutionary rather than
prescribed
http://www.swimming.org/dementiafriendly/