Plymouth hosts annual Dementia Conference

National leaders in dementia research and care including Alistair Burns, NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Dementia, are among the scheduled keynote speakers at a major conference in Plymouth.

Renowned dementia campaigners Angela Rippon and Dr Trevor Jarvis, and the Director of Alzheimer’s Society Wales Sue Phelps, will also be addressing the Fourth Plymouth Dementia Conference in February.

Organised by Plymouth University in partnership with Plymouth City Council, the theme of the 2015 event is Dementia, the Challenges and Inspirational Solutions.

It will bring together health and social care professionals, people with dementia and their carers, politicians, and international and national speakers to speak about their life and work.

It will also showcase the cutting edge dementia research taking place at Plymouth University, which has recently been awarded more than £1million to fund dementia research from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Prime Minister’s Defeat Dementia campaign.

Ian Sherriff is the Academic Partnership Lead for Dementia at Plymouth University and Chair of the Prime Minister’s Rural Dementia Task Force. He is supported by the National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South West Peninsula (NIHR PenCLAHRC).

Mr Sherriff said: “The Fourth Plymouth Dementia Conference is the perfect opportunity for people to see why our city is at the forefront of dementia research and care. In taking a local, regional and national perspective as well as focusing upon urban and rural dimensions of dementia, the conference will seek to engage with the audience and deliver a programme that shares innovative and inspirational solutions and highlight best practice.”

As well as sharing current best practice, the conference will aim to pose questions for the future of dementia care and suggest that working together in partnership is the only way to bring about positive change and have a lasting impact on policy and practice.

There will be speeches and interviews, and a series of workshops showcasing the dementia related research taking place within Plymouth University’s Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry, the Faculty of Health and Human Sciences and the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.

Updates on national dementia research will be provided by Colin Capper, Head of Research Development and Evaluation at the Alzheimer’s Society, with further demonstrations of new and innovative care programmes being pioneered in Plymouth and the surrounding areas.

Councillor Ian Tuffin, Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care for Plymouth City Council, said: “We are delighted to be able to host the fourth annual Dementia Conference in Plymouth. As an administration, we are committed to working towards making Plymouth a Dementia Friendly City. We are immensely proud of the work the council and other partners are doing, working with the Plymouth Dementia Action Alliance to make Plymouth more supportive and dementia friendly place to live for people with dementia, their families and carers. In Plymouth we have 60 organisations who have signed up to be Dementia Friendly, 37 Care Homes now carry the Dementia Quality Mark, and becoming Dementia Friendly is a part of the Healthy Child Quality Mark, which has been awarded to two thirds of Plymouth schools.”

The conference will be held at the Plymouth Guildhall on Friday 06 February 2015 and tickets are now on sale. For more information, visit the Plymouth University website, email events@plymouth.ac.uk or call 01752 588946.