ARDIS

1. Welcome to the ARDIS website
ARDIS exists to improve dementia care in Brighton & Hove in a measurable way. It addresses the need for specialist care for those whose illness produces unpredictable and challenging behaviour. For this client group demand exceeds supply of existing services in both the NHS and private/voluntary sector.

An independent voluntary management board runs the charitable company. The 15 trustees include professional people, local members of parliament past and present, experienced carers, and the chairman of South Downs Health NHS Trust. The board meets four times a year and is supported by a part-time freelance administrator. ARDIS is recruiting for a medical professional with expertise in geriatric psychiatry to fill the Chair left vacant by the death of our co-founder Dr. Tony Whitehead.

ARDIS primarily meets its aims by working with commissioners and providers of mental health services. We support joint projects with Anchor Trust, The Alzheimer’s Society, Brighton & Hove Adult Social Care, South Downs Health NHS Trust and Community Transport.

ARDIS gets its income from donations, legacies, charitable gifts and annual subscriptions from the Friends of ARDIS who receive a quarterly newsletter. Friends and the general public support our coffee mornings, sponsored swims and Christmas Concert in The Chapel Royal Brighton. We are grateful for the ongoing support of our Patrons, Friends and volunteers.

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2. Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s Disease is the most common cause of dementia, a Mental Health term for a group of symptoms, which includes confusion, memory loss and poor concentration. Most older people will never get dementia, and it is not a normal part of growing old.

Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease and there is no known cure. It is important to get an early medical diagnosis from a GP. The family doctor then puts people in touch with the Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) for their local area.

A care plan is developed to meet the needs of both the patient and their carer. Drug treatment is available to control symptoms and respite care is often recommended to give the carer a break from the demands of their caring role.

In later stages of Alzheimer’s, co-ordination and control over bodily functions diminishes. There is no clear blueprint for the gradual degeneration of Alzheimer’s Disease, but it is a life-limiting illness which can require 24 hour care in a residential home.

The best single source of help and advice if you suspect someone has the symptoms of dementia is The Alzheimer’s Society. They provide practical help, emotional support and personal care to people in their own home. They also maintain a telephone helpline 7 days a week.

ARDIS are project partners with their Towner Club, a sociable day care option for people with Early Onset Dementia.

For more information on dementia, visit the NHS’ online services: Best Treatments.

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3. Respite Care
Nearly 7 million people in the UK are carers and look after a relative or friend who cannot manage without help because of sickness, age or disability. Caring for a person with dementia is both traumatic and exhausting. It is a 24 hour, 7 day a week job. This means that carers too, need help and support in maintaining independence.

Brighton & Hove City Council administers money from the Carers Grant to support people in a caring role. See their website for details of Carers’ Grant breaks and services for carers of adults. The Brighton Alzheimer’s Society offers help with respite travel costs.

Respite care which is designed to offer a rest from the caring role, is offered in four forms. The first three are timetabled as home respite, day care and residential respite. Home respite is ideally offered to a reliable daily or weekly timetable.

Brighton and Hove Adult Social Care offer some day care for people with dementia at Ireland Lodge Resource Centre in Woodingdean and the Brighton Alzheimer’s Society offer day care for working age adults at The Towner Club.

Anchor Trust’s Partridge House in Bevendean is providing a residential respite care service under contract to South Downs NHS Trust. Anchor’s two timetabled respite places are bookable for up to one week to give carers a break. Brighton and Hove City Council’s Mental Health Service Placement Bureau can be telephoned on 01273 265523 to discuss eligibility.

The fourth type is emergency respite. South Downs NHS Trust offers the Community Advice and Support Team for older people with mental health problems. This rapid response team is available 7 days a week from 8:00am to 10:00pm for home appointments. Anyone can call this service on 01273 295940.

As yet there is little official provision of urgently needed timetabled respite care. ARDIS’ efforts to pump-prime in this area have faltered due to the shortage of skilled staff available to offer personal care to people with dementia in their home.

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4. Residential Care
Partridge House in Bevendean is a 38 bed specialist care home for older people with dementia. The Anchor Trust who contracts all beds to South Downs NHS Trust for allocation by Brighton and Hove Adult Social Care owns it. It was their first specialist dementia home created in partnership with ARDIS who provided funds and extensive expertise in geriatric psychiatric care.

Our £40,000 project is nearly complete to provide a conservatory at the home. The addition living area is essential since 14 additional bedrooms were created from living areas last year. Our patron Dora Bryan will dedicate the conservatory to the memory of ARDIS fundraiser Dot Voller on 21 May 2004.

ARDIS maintain an amenity fund for Partridge House to improve the quality of life for residents. Friends vital support of Anchor work provide extra comforts and equipment for patients. As gardening is a favourite pastime, the Friends of ARDIS recently donated a new greenhouse sited in the landscaped garden.

Admission to Partridge House is strictly limited to people who have been assessed for their care needs by the community mental health teams of Brighton and Hove.

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5. Early Onset Dementia
Dementia in people under 65 is known as early onset dementia (EOD) and is rare. There are approximately 100 people in Brighton and Hove affected by EOD.

In 1999 ARDIS was able to supply 33% of the necessary start-up funding to establish The Towner Club, a specialist day care service for adults of working age. ARDIS partnered the Alzheimer’s Society National Office and the Brighton Area Branch.

The objective of the project was to enhance the quality of life of people with EOD and their families by developing a service which promotes the physical and emotional well-being of this client group and enables them to function independently for as long as possible in the community.

Today the Alzheimer’s Society Brighton Area Branch maintains The Towner Club as a joint project partnered with South Downs NHS Trust, Brighton And Hove Adult Social Services and ARDIS. The Towner Club offers a high quality service characterized by a friendly, supportive, stimulating and constructive environment with recreational and therapeutic activities.

We look forward to a long association with and continuing growth for this vital care for younger people with dementia, which also offers respite for carers. The board of ARDIS join in the international celebrations of the Alzheimer’s Society’s silver jubilee year (1979-2004).

Kamal Beeharee, who can be contacted on Tuesdays and Fridays on telephone 01273 570716, manages the Towner Club, Somerset Day Centre, St. James Street, Brighton.

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6. Planning for Care
Taking on the role of a carer leads to a succession of interviews and assessments with health care professionals as the route to most services is through referral by a GP.

Carers are offered education in the complex physical disabilities including incontinence, mobility loss, speech and language loss which can accompany Alzheimers disease.

Mental Health Services for Older People in Brighton and Hove deal with the needs of people over 65 with dementia. They provide community mental health teams (CMHT), which consist of community psychiatric nurses, social workers, psychiatrists, doctors, occupational therapists and psychologists. A team is responsible for medical, social and financial assessments, which will lead to the development of a patient’s care plan and a carer’s care plan.

Some of the services on offer are:
• Memory Screening, which may rule out dementia as a problem
• Medical diagnosis for dementia
• Drug treatment to control symptoms
• Carer’s Needs Assessment
• Financial Assessment for personal care needs
• Personal Care assessment from the Continence Unit – 01273 696011 Ext 3398
• Nursing assessment for special needs not related to the dementia

The City Council has a charging policy for most of the services provided. The Social Care Information Line 01273 295555 will be able to direct your enquiry to the appropriate department. They can also supply Information sheets:
No 1 - Charges for residential & Nursing Home Care
No 2 - Charges for Non-residential services

ARDIS regularly holds coffee mornings to offer new carers the opportunity to discuss their concerns with one or more of the charity’s directors. Events are listed on the Events Calendar page.

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7. Events Calendar
ARDIS is extremely grateful to everyone who has given support, goods, services and financial donations over the past few years.

Special thanks go to the following larger donors and everyone who supports our work:
Brighton Lions
Brighton Rotary
Oliver and Graimes Design Associates (Shoreham)
Kuen-Ming Cheung

Friends of ARDIS Events – Autumn 2004
Coffee Mornings in Hove and Brighton
Dr. Tony Whitehead Memorial Concert
Christmas Carol Service at The Chapel Royal, Brighton

Last update: 25/07/04
Next update: August 2004

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8. Contacts
To join The Friends of ARDIS, request tickets to events, comment about this website or local dementia services, email the ARDIS administrator on info@ardis.org.uk

Other useful sources of support, information and advice:

Alzheimer’s Society – Brighton Area Branch
Helpline: 01273 726266 (9:00am – 11:00pm 7 days a week)
Email: alzheimers_brighton@hotmail.com

B & H City Council Carers Project Officer administers Carers Grant
Email: cpo@fsworld.co.uk

Brighton & Hove Disability Advice Centre
Benefits adviser, help filling in forms, wheelchair loans
Telephone: 01273 203016

Social Care Information Line
Provides Leaflets: e.g. ‘Carers – is it time for a BREAK?’
Telephone: 01273 295555

Gay and Lesbian carers’ helpline
Telephone: 01273 628047

MIND in Brighton & Hove
Advocacy service for people with dementia
Telephone: 01273 749600

Department of Health Leaflets online
www.doh.gov.uk/carers/carersleaflet2002.htm
‘How to get help in looking after someone: A carers guide to a carers assessment’
Available in 11 languages: English, Vietnamese, Urdu, Turkish, Somali, Punjabi, Gujerati, Greek, Chinese, Bengali, Arabic

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Text©Maire McQueeney 2004