First Police Public Service Centre (PSC) in the UK to complete Dementia Friendly Training

Up to 300 PSC staff have completed Dementia Friendly training to help them gain an understanding of members of our communities living with the condition and the practical steps they can take to support them

Up to 300 PSC staff have completed Dementia Friendly training to help them gain an understanding of members of our communities living with the condition and the practical steps they can take to support them.

South Wales Police Assistant Chief Constable Jon Stratford said: “Another positive step has been taken by the PSC in training all 300 members of staff to be Dementia Friendly to further enable them to understand the needs of our communities when taking 101 and 999 calls.

“It’s also such encouraging news to hear that all staff volunteered to sign up and become Dementia Friends, demonstrating that they feel dedicated to improving lives of the people we serve, in whatever way they can. ”

Chella Borde, Dementia Friends Regional Support Officer at Alzheimer’s Society said: “Less than half of us think we know enough about dementia. Dementia Friends is the perfect opportunity to be able to invite everyone up and down the country to improve their knowledge. Dementia Friends isn’t about creating experts, it’s about helping people understand a little bit more about what it’s like to live with the condition and then turn that understanding into action.

“We are delighted that South Wales Police have pledged their support for the initiative and have rolled the information sessions out across all their Public Service Centre staff handling all emergency and 101 calls across the whole region. Having a better informed person taking a phone call will undoubtedly improve the situation for a person living with dementia, and their loved ones.“

PSC training was undertaken by the force Mental Health Officer Jeff Handley and Hannah Davies who are both Dementia Champions, trained by the Alzheimer’s Society.

Hannah is a teacher by day and volunteers to talk to people about being a Dementia Friend in her spare time. Hannah is part of a network of people creating dementia friendly communities and was instrumental in obtaining ‘Dementia Friendly’ status for Swansea, the first city in Wales to be awarded this status. To compliment this achievement, Western BCU is also working to become a Dementia Friendly BCU.

For more information visit the Dementia Friendly website.

Image: From left to right: Sarah Thomas PSC, Hannah Davies Founder of Dementia Supportive Community in Swansea , Jeff Handley, SWP Mental Health Officer, ACC Jon Stratford and Public Service Centre Superintendent Alun Morgan.