News Release, 29 September 2000
The Mental Health Foundation has appointed two consultants to develop and manage its new dementia service development programme, the Dementia Advice and Support Service. Jayne Lingard and Alisoun Milne started work in September and will be selecting, supporting and evaluating pilot sites for the project which aims to fill a gap in services for the many thousands of people in the early stages of dementia living in their own home and for their carers.
Jayne Lingard joins the programme from her previous role as a service commissioner working on mental health services for older people at the Southern Derbyshire Health Authority. She has also worked in the health service as a manager both in adult learning disability and child and adolescent mental health services and was formerly an approved social worker for mental health working with older people.
Alisoun Milne is a lecturer in social gerontology at the Tizard Centre, University of Kent. Prior to this she was a research fellow at the Personal Social Service Research Unit. She has an extensive background in social work practice and management, including working with older people with mental health problems and was a member of the advisory group for the Audit Commission special study Mental Health Services for Older People.
The need for greater support for people with dementia and their carers in the early stages where plans can made and support networks established before a crisis sets in was one of the needs highlighted by the recent Audit Commission report, Forget me Not. The right advice and support as early after diagnosis as possible is proven to slow down the disabling impact of dementia and may delay the need for residential care.
The Mental Health Foundation’s Dementia Advice and Support Service will develop innovative and effective ways of providing practical and emotional support, information and advice on key issues such as access to benefits and professional help, working with both the carer and the person with dementia. A learning network will run alongside the project with the aim of disseminating the ideas and knowledge required to develop this sort of service. The network will use the internet to increase the numbers able to participate.
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For further information and interview requests contact please contact the press office on 020 7803 1105 / 1128 or email the press office
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