ABSTRACT

This is the fi nal chapter of my journey into living well with dementia, but for English health policy this really is only the beginning. Modern management of the patient in the UK has a tendency to see the person experiencing medical care in the NHS as a series of ‘problems’. However, modern English policy has made a real effort to see the person in a positive light, and as an individual. This, however, presents a formidable obligation for all those who meet an individual with dementia to get to know him or her properly, and to make an effort to understand that individual even in the absence of obvious physical illness. Whether it is by chance or by design, in recent years, the Social Care Institute for Excellence has advocated an approach based on personalisation, and, for people who come into contact with social care services, aspires for people with dementia to be empowered with real choice and control wherever possible. This could become signifi cant as all political parties consider the value of integrated services in healthcare in the English jurisdiction.