Craven District Council : Craven District Council agrees to join Dementia Action Alliance

Craven District Council agrees to join Dementia Action Alliance

Craven District councillors have approved plans to join the Skipton and South Craven Dementia Action Alliance.

Councillors also agreed to support plans for Craven to become a Dementia Friendly District, at a meeting of the council’s policy committee on March 7.

The local Dementia Action Alliance will bring together regional and local organisations and businesses to improve the lives of people with dementia in the district.

There are currently 299 local alliances across the UK and this number is growing all the time.

It is estimated that there are over 1,000 people living with dementia in the Craven district, and that hundreds more are undiagnosed.

Councillor Linda Brockbrank, Craven District Council’s lead member for Working with Communities, said: “We want to lead by example and we believe it’s important to play our part in improving the lives of people with dementia. Signing up to these actions will help all vulnerable people in our society.”

An event to raise awareness of dementia in Skipton and South Craven was held at Belle Vue Mills, Skipton, last month.

Hazel Foster, a patient with dementia, was filmed talking about living with the condition, and there were also presentations from Steve Pool, head of the Yorkshire & Humber Dementia Action Alliance, and Councillor Chris Moorby, Chairman of Craven District Council

Businesses including Skipton Building Society attended the event and were very keen to learn more about how their organisations could be more dementia-friendly.

The Alzheimer’s Society, Dementia Action Alliance, Dementia Friends, Making Space, Pioneer Projects, Carers’ Resource and Dyneley House Surgery all attended the sessions.

Craven District Council has already delivered Dementia Friends training to some frontline staff. The Skipton Town Hall rebrand and development is also taking into account dementia friendly guidelines, and staff at Craven Leisure will also be given dementia training.