The University of Portsmouth has conducted a project aimed at improving social care practices for integrating mouth and dental care into personal care for people living with dementia at home.
Led by Dr. Dia Soilemezi, the study explored how mouth and dental care are addressed in individual assessments and care plans. It involved examining existing care plans, interviewing people with dementia, their family carers, and social care professionals, and co-producing accessible outputs for local councils and home care providers.
The research project has co-produced two easy to read and free checklists, aimed at homecare managers and homecare workers respectively, that are useful to homecare services supporting people living with dementia to maintain a healthy mouth.
- Mouth_Checklist_for_Care_Managers_final_.pdf (port.ac.uk)
- Maintaining_a_Healthy_Mouth_-_Final_Colour_.pdf (port.ac.uk)
The project, titled SORTED (short for "Improving Social Care practice in integrating mouth and teeth care in personal care for people living with dementia"), was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research and ran from June 2021 to January 2023.
