Establishing a Dementia supportive practice network

Introduction: The Dementia Friendly Communities initiative has gathered momentum with support programmes showing varying levels of engagement. Persons living with dementia and their care partners were invited to co-produce a practice network to encourage service providers to share of best practice, reduce silo working and ensure better utilisation of support. Objectives: The network was established to improve social learning (Wenger, 2010) and collaboration across the Health, Social care, the Third sector and other agencies delivering services to persons living with dementia in North Wales. The new multidisciplinary network also aimed to raise the profile of dementia research in nonacademic settings and encourage multidisciplinary collaboration. Methods: Funding was allocated to the project to support persons living with dementia and their care partners to attend the meetings and share their lived experiences with service providers. Persons living with dementia and their care partners were members of the steering group informing the format and content of the meetings. Member organisations hosted six cross-county meetings and members were encouraged to share information on current and planned services in each county. An artist-led creative workshop based on the meeting themes of effective signage and communication encouraged informal discussions and shared new experiences involving visual art. Results: The membership included 140 attendees which involved persons living with dementia and their care partners, public and third sector representatives, clinicians and academics. Creative sessions were appreciated as a method of encouraging dialogue between members through the communities of practice model (Cundill, Roux, & Parker; 2015). Members co-produced a national stakeholder event in January 2017. Member feedback will be shared with examples of the barriers which have been overcome to ensure the network is successfully established with examples of new initiatives that have emerged within the network. Conclusion: The creative sessions supported members to discuss ideas and develop new collaborations on an equal platform, acknowledging each member’s valued contribution to developing a Dementia Friendly Future. Ensuring membership reflected both profess