Helping patients with dementia live well

Care Services Minister Paul Burstow unveiled a range of new design prototypes at the Design Council that can help people with dementia to live well, which included a fragrance-release system designed to stimulate appetite, specially-trained 'guide dogs for the mind' and an intelligent wristband that supports people with dementia to stay active safely. The innovative designs will be a large step forward in achieving some of the commitments the Prime Minister recently announced in his challenge on dementia.The Design Council, together with the Department of Health, ran a national competition that was open to designers and experts, in order to develop new ideas to help improve the lives of people suffering from dementia. Five teams designed innovative product concepts and services under the guidance of in-depth research and people affected by dementia. The results are prototypes that will undergo further testing so they can be developed with commercial partners so that some or all of these designs will be widely available as soon as possible. The new designs introduced at the Design Council are: The buddiband - a discrete wristband personal alarm, which is comfortable and waterproof, and is fitted with the most powerful possible rechargeable battery to avoid constant replacement and the need to be charged on a daily basis. It contains cutting edge technology to keep care-takers informed of the wearer's welfare and respond if needed. It features a manual emergency alert that enables responses handled by buddi's 24/7 emergency response center and has an automatic fall alert, which means if a user has a fall, the wristband detects it and calls for assistance. The wristband has lifestyle monitoring, which detects variances in typical activity levels; for instance, if a user's activity levels drop considerably, the system alerts the user or carer. In addition to a host of other features, the buddiband also allows carers to keep an eye on activity levels without being present. Grouple - a secure, private, online, social network that assists families to plan and share care the responsibilities of caring for someone with dementia, including visits, appointments, observations and questions. Each grouple hub's centre has a timeline, where members can post items like visits, appointments, observations and questions, and quickly sees and fills in any gaps in the schedule. It allows for care decisions to easily being discussed and become informed by everyone's observations. The system allows for reports to be created and printed based on the content of the timeline, which helps medical professionals and updates 'offline' family members. Given that many caretakers are not completely computer literate, grouple is based on the most simple, attractive and intuitive possible design. Grouple allows members of a care network to easily post their care-schedules, ideas and experiences, share responsibilities and coordinate efforts to offer consistent and regular care without overburdening one single person. Dementia Dog - a new approach, whereby specially selected assistance dogs are trained to help and protect the wellbeing of those with dementia so they can lead a more fulfilled, independent and stress-free life.