Bluebird Care Bristol,Bath, & NE Somerset Undergo Innovative Dementia Training

Bluebird Care Bath have gone above and beyond for their Care Assistants by providing innovative training sessions to help them experience the difficulties of living with dementia, first hand.

Bluebird Care Bristol, Bath, & NE Somerset is a leading home care provider, responsible for the delivery of care services directly to the homes of their customers. Visits cover a variety of tailored care services, from personal care to companionship, home help, to trips into the community, right up to 24-hour Live-in Care.

Care Assistants and Supervisors must therefore be prepared to meet any challenge for their customers, many of whom live with dementia. 

Earlier this month, Care Assistants and Supervisors underwent the Training 2 Care’s Dementia Tour, a proven method of giving someone the opportunity to experience and understand the change in mindset of someone living with dementia.

As part of the training, participants wear mittens in a thick material to impair their ability to perform tasks or hold items, wear headphones and glasses with altered lenses to impair their vision and make them feel disorientated and operate in dark rooms with coloured lights to add to the disorientation and overall frustration. Furthermore, participants wear spiked insoles in their shoes to cause the onset of pins and needles.Following the practical experience, the participants join a debrief session with the instructor to go through their experience and gain further understanding of how they can implement this training into their work.

The training is undertaken by 200,000 people annually, and has been commissioned by 18 NHS Trusts, Care homes, Nursing Homes, Police, Ambulance, Universities, Councils, and the Care Quality Commission. 

The experience allowed Supervisors and Care Assistants at Bluebird Care Bristol, Bath, & NE Somerset the opportunity to experience the difficulties and understand the frustrations that their customers live with. They now have a much deeper understanding of what their dementiacustomers are going through, and how best to support them.

Katie Dunn, a Care Assistant at Bluebird Care Bath, commented:

“The training was excellent, and I really enjoyed it. It was a difficult experience, but I feel like I can do a lot more and a lot better with those of our customers that have dementia now that I have a better understanding of what they’re going through.”

Michael Peachey, Associate Director for Experience Training at Training 2 Care, added:

“At Training 2 Care, we believe that training should lead to positive changes in practice. Experimental training such as the Virtual Dementia Tour, Dementia Interpreter course, and Autism Reality Experience, all help to achieve this. Delegates never forget these sessions. The lessons they learn then stay with them forever, and lead to people receiving better care and support.

We are incredibly proud to be working in partnership with Bluebird Care Bath & North East Somerset to achieve our joint aim of making transformational changes to the way care is provided.”