Aim Dementia is a growing issue and increasingly part of national and international policy. At Countess Mountbatten Hospice we have secured funding for an 18 month pilot of the Namaste Care Programme, which will look at engaging care homes in providing a daily programme that aims to enhance and maintain quality of life for individuals with advanced dementia, at end of life.

Methods To develop robust training that will lead to the successful implementation of the programme, and through supportive working via visits and close correspondence, embed the programme into their daily care delivery for those individuals. This training is done by an initial full day of training for those who are going to lead the programme in their home, including training for the managers to ensure it is well-led throughout the home, and then there are in-house sessions for the individual homes to inform the whole team.

Results Currently there have been 16 homes recruited and trained to implement the Namaste Care Programme. All homes are at varying degrees of the implementation phase due to individual circumstances of that home. There are some homes that have very early results that are showing both qualitative and quantitative improvements in individuals’ quality of life within their homes.

Conclusion We plan to review progress and publish results in March 2019.