Abstract

Dementia is one of the most severe and devastating disorders that we face as a society (DH, 2009) and is now the leading cause of death in Britain (Office for National Statistics, 2015). However, while it is widely recognised that dementia is a terminal condition, there is a lack of coordination or philosophy that embraces the principles of palliative care which are beneficial at all stages of dementia (Ashton et al., 2016; Lloyd-Williams & Payne, 2002; Mitchell et al., 2004; Mitchell et al., 2007; Sachs, 2004). This results in missed opportunities to access interventions such as advance care planning (ACP) along with the psychosocial and spiritual support that is so important in promoting resilience and self-management (Conroy, 2009; Dempsey, 2013; Ashton et al., 2016; Murray et al., 2017). Thus reducing the risk in the latter stages of dementia, of people being subjected to escalations in care that they have expressed a preference not to receive and reducing the incidence of avoidable hospitalisation (Brinkman-Stoppelenburg et al., 2014; Conroy, 2009; Ashton et al., 2016; Murray et al., 2017). This poster will explore the local collaborative initiative in Lincolnshire of a joint ACP policy document across the health and social care economy and how this is being supported to be used in practice, underpinned by current advanced communication skills education.