Many care homes are struggling to implement a tool designed to help them better meet the needs of people with dementia. New research suggests that care home managers need to be supported, trained and engaged when such tools are introduced into care homes.

The tool, called Dementia Care Mapping (DCM), aims to improve practices in care homes for people living with dementia. The programme asks staff to put themselves in the place of residents, through watching and assessing residents’ experiences. The observations are fed back to the staff team who work together to develop action plans to improve care.

A previous study found that DCM did not lead to improvements in homes. This study explored why. It found that implementation is patchy and vulnerable to issues such as staff and manager turnover, their confidence or skills to lead changes in practice, and inadequate staffing and funds.

The researchers suggest that how well managers understand, value and engage with DCM has a key influence, as does their leadership style.

Find out, by reading the full article, what’s the issue, what’s new, why this is important and what’s next?