Primary care

Introduction: Primary healthcare professionals will increasingly be required to manage and optimise their treatment for patients with dementia. With DementiaNet, we aim to reduce the burden of dementia on healthcare services and society through implementation and facilitation of integrated network-based care with increased dementia expertise. DementiaNet is designed as a stepwise approach including clinical leadership, quality improvement cycles and interprofessional training, which are tailor-made to the local context.

Aim: Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia are often managed inappropriately with antipsychotic medicines. The TOP 5 program, which involves recording up to five relevant and meaningful tips that assist in personalizing care for the person with dementia, has been tested in the hospital setting and transitions of care in Australia, and has been found to be useful. Our study aimed to adapt the TOP 5 program as a strategy to support people with dementia in a primary care setting and to test the acceptability of our adapted TOP 5 program materials.

Background: The prevalence of multiple chronic conditions (MCC) among older persons is increasing worldwide and is associated with poor health status and high rates of healthcare utilization and costs. Current health and social services are not addressing the complex needs of this group or their family caregivers. A better understanding of the experience of MCC from multiple perspectives is needed to improve the approach to care for this vulnerable group.

Background: Family caregivers (FCGs) of patients at the end of life (EoL) cared for at home receive support from professional and non-professional care providers. Healthcare providers in general practice play an important role as they coordinate care and establish contacts between the parties concerned. To identify potential intervention targets, this study deals with the challenges healthcare providers in general practice face in EoL care situations including patients, caregivers and networks.

This toolkit provides links to a range of resources to support GP practices and health professionals in ensuring patients nearing the end of life, and those close to them, receive the highest quality of care and support. It includes tools, guidance, current best practice policy, and legislation for healthcare professionals. It also provides links to training resources to help with continuing professional development and audit tools to evaluate practice. A section providing information for patients, informal carers, and those close to someone nearing the end of life is also included.

Background: Patient involvement in clinical decision making is increasingly advocated. Although older patients may be more reluctant to become involved, most do appreciate being informed. However, knowledge about their experiences with and preferences for receiving information is limited, and even less is known about these topics for frail older people.

Objective: To explore the experiences of frail older people and informal caregivers with receiving information from health care professionals as well as their preferences for receiving information.

This resource is a collaboration between the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and The Princess Royal Trust for Carers. It has been developed with the help of Sheffield University and over twenty GP practices who have piloted and evaluated some of the resources