_edited.png)
Veterans with Dementia in Hospitals
We have long raised concern about how Veterans living with Dementia are managed when in hospital care. This has impacted their lives and the lives of family members from the time of admission, through inpatient care and the discharge process and care at home.
We have taken the lead and contacted every NHS Trust in the UK to create a working partnership and ensure that they understand that Armed Forces Veterans living with Dementia have different needs than non-veterans,
Why Veterans Living with Dementia are different
Veterans living with Dementia have greater needs when being admitted to hospitals, For many , the noise, the authority of the staff and the way they are spoken to can affect their own responses or can trigger different emotions.
We have created a fact sheet on how to manage and avoid trigger points and also different activities that they could take part in during their stay especially when most wards now have a dementia volunteer to occupy patients during the day
We have also launched the Veterans Butterfly Scheme - similar to the Blue Butterfly that signifies someone living with dementia, our unique Veterans Butterfly will signify that this is an Armed Forces Veteran who is living with dementia. We have shared this information with NHS trusts and it has been received well and we look forward to this being adopted across the UK along with our support pack that gives ideas on overcoming additional challenges faced and how to ensure extra support on discharge