Rochdale’s new dementia initiative - Dementia Dekh Bhaal

Rochdale’s new dementia initiative - Dementia Dekh Bhaal - aimed at capturing Asian carers experiences and campaigning for change in health and social care sectors launched.

‘They look after their own’ - a phrase some in the South Asian communities are only too familiar with.

Family carers often struggle to care for a relative with dementia, but when you add cultural, social and sometimes practical barriers the task of carers becomes neigh impossible.

To dispel this myth, an innovative project has just been launched in Rochdale to showcase what can be achieved when you put communities and families at the heart of family carers of people with dementia.

There are around 670,000 carers of people living with dementia in the UK. Caring for someone with dementia can, at times, be challenging, isolating and exhausting.

Carers do a fantastic job, saving the state £11 billion a year, but many say that they do not have the services and support they need, this situation is often increasingly fraught for groups who are seldom heard and often overlooked.

More work needs to be done to understand what life looks like for all carers and design services to meet this reality. Whilst national policy is stuck at pushing for equality in terms of appropriate dementia awareness and support for minority ethnic communities across England, Rochdale has just launched a ground-breaking project to put policy into actions.

'Tide' (together in dementia everyday) has been working on the ‘Dementia Dekh Bhaal’ initiative bringing together people from South Asian backgrounds – people with dementia, carers, voluntary sector organisations and the statutory sector - to encourage meaningful engagement, consultation and development of support services.

With the support of Heywood, Middleton & Rochdale CCG and the Rochdale Council tide have developed a pioneering pilot scheme to capture South Asian carer narratives, working with family carers to develop resources and undertake awareness raising campaigns.

Anna Gaughan, CEO of Tide and Life Story Network CiC, joined the Mayor Mohammed Zaman, Councillor Iftikhar Ahmed, Portfolio holder for Social Care, and Razia Shamim to launch the project at St Andrew’s Church. Also, in attendance were the Pakeeza Women’s Group and other members of the South Asian community.

At the launch attendees were able to listen to carer experiences from a number of carers who shared their challenges, but also their pride and sense of duty.

Shahid Mohammed, Project Manager, tide said: “We know that dementia is projected to increase around seven fold for black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities. These families present late [for support] with dementia, often carers are struggling to manage already complex situations and not having a word for dementia in community languages makes it really difficult to reach out and set up appropriate support mechanisms.”

Councillor Iftikhar Ahmed, cabinet member for adult care, said: “This is an excellent initiative which will enhance the support services available across the borough.

"We have some fantastic carers across Rochdale, doing a brilliant job looking after loved ones. Anything that improves the help and support available to them should be welcomed and it’s great to see such a pioneering and innovative service being launched.”