Safeguarding Service Users with Dementia in Care Home

Improving the Health of
Others through Effective
Research

Table of Contents
Title:.................................................................................................................................................4
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................4
Overview of the research........................................................................................................4
Background of the research....................................................................................................4
Research Aim.........................................................................................................................5
Research Objectives...............................................................................................................5
Chapter 2: Literature Review...........................................................................................................6
Introduction............................................................................................................................6
Theme 1 Basic understanding about Dementia......................................................................6
Theme 2 Reasons of safeguarding to service users with dementia........................................7
Theme 3: Effective ways to safeguard and protect people with dementia.............................9
Theme 4: Issues faced by care providers in safeguarding services users with dementia.....10
Theme 5: The best approach to improve safeguarding and solving problems faced by care
providers in dealing people with dementia...........................................................................11
CHAPTER 3- Research Methodology...........................................................................................13
Research type........................................................................................................................13
Research philosophy.............................................................................................................13
Research Approach...............................................................................................................14
Research Design...................................................................................................................14
Data Collection method........................................................................................................14
Sampling method..................................................................................................................15
Data Analysis method...........................................................................................................15
Limitations............................................................................................................................16
Ethical Considerations..........................................................................................................16
Chapter 4: Data Analysis...............................................................................................................18
Data interpretation................................................................................................................18
CHAPTER 5 Conclusion, Recommendations and Reflection.......................................................28
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................28
RECOMMENDATIONS...............................................................................................................29

REFLECTION...............................................................................................................................30
References......................................................................................................................................31
Appendix........................................................................................................................................33

Title:
To examine safeguarding service users with dementia in care home. A case study on
Excel care.”
Chapter 1: Introduction
Overview of the research
Safeguarding is a process of protecting people who are in needs like vulnerable people,
adults, older people who are suffering some mental health problems and negligence (Arulrajah
and Steele, 2018). In safeguarding in dementia, one of the main responsibilities of health care
professionals is to make sure service users and patients with dementia are having access to health
care and staying well. One of the main aims of safeguarding is protecting people and improving
their overall health. In the context of dementia, it can be said that it is mental disorder which
mainly progressed with the age and affects thinking, personal behaviours, judgement and
learning capability. It is a normal part of ageing and around 50 million people worldwide get
affected every year with this. There are some causes of dementia and one of the main causes
among all causes includes: brain cell death which happens due to head injury, stroke and other
causes. It has some stages such as mild cognitive impairment, mild dementia, moderate dementia
and severe dementia. It affects the society as the whole as people with dementia become
dependent on their family members and society members and dealing with such people
sometimes become frustrated. There are several care homes that are providing several effective
services to people with dementia and safeguarding them with physical exercise, proper diet,
digital screening and others (Manthorpe and Martineau, 2019). It is important for care providers
of having some skills while dealing and safeguarding people with dementia in order to make
them feel valued, improving their overall health and improving performance without getting
frustrated.
Background of the research
This present study is based on Excel care which is based in East London’s Stepney
Green, London. It is known as an active part of local community as it provides long term care for
people with residential dementia and end of life care (Excel Care Homecare, 2019). One of the
other main features of this home care is it respects values of all people and encourages older

people and all service users to make their own decision as well as choices for remaining
independent and motivating them. This present study is going to discuss reasons of safeguarding
older people and all people with dementia and how safeguarding they can help them out in
becoming independent and having positive impacts on the society. Further, it will discuss some
appropriate ways of care providers of Excel care of safeguarding their services users with
dementia which improve their life and make them feel valued. Some ways of safeguarding which
this study will discuss include: encouraging balance diet, intellectual activities and others
(Blakemore and et.al., 2018). Further, it will also discuss some problems which care providers
face while dealing with people with dementia as people with dementia sometimes abuse to other
people, they hurt or harm themselves and others and also deny taking participate in treatment
process.
Research Aim
“To examine safeguarding service users with dementia in care home.
Research Objectives
 To discuss basic understanding of dementia
 To identify reasons of safeguarding to service users with dementia in Excel care.
 To explore effective ways to safeguard and protect people with dementia.
 To discuss issues faced by care providers in safeguarding services users with dementia.
 To recommend strategy or approach to solve problems faced by care providers in dealing
with people with dementia.
Research questions
 What are some symptoms, causes and treatments of dementia
 What are some reasons of safeguarding service users with dementia?
 What are some effective ways of safeguarding people with dementia at Excel care?
 Which types of problems care providers face while safeguarding people with dementia?
 What is the best approach to improve safeguarding and solving problems faced by care
providers in dealing people with dementia?

Chapter 2: Literature Review
Introduction
Literature review is an essential part of a research study which focuses upon
systematically review previous research that has been conducted in the chosen field of research.
It helps the researcher in getting a brief idea of previous research that has been carried out
previously and identify gap in the literature. Literature review helps in development of base for
conducting research. This literature review focuses upon reviewing secondary data and research
carried out in safeguarding service users with dementia.
Theme 1 Basic understanding about Dementia
According to the view of Elovainio and et.al., (2020) Dementia is a kind of a syndrome in
which memory, behaviour, ability and thinking of a person starts deteriorating. It affects
memory, learning capability, ability to perform daily tasks and face many other types of
difficulties. Such people face various kinds of difficulties in terms of judging, decision making,
calculations etc. Functionalities of brain are directly impacted and because of this syndrome
individual can suffer from various other kinds of syndrome. One of the most common type of
Dementia is Alzheimer. According to World Health Organization, (2020) Dementia is one of the
major causes of disability and dependency upon others in order people. It is a terminal disease
and mortality rate due to dementia is approximately 66 percent.
As per the view of Knifton and et.al., (2019) there are many different kinds of dementia
and they are categorized on the basis of symptoms. Some of the most commonly known
dementia type are: Mixed dementia, Alzheimer, down syndrome, Parkinson’s, Lewy body
dementia, Vascular, Normal pressure hydrocephalus and many other kinds of dementia.
According to World Health Organization, (2020) Symptoms of Dementia can be
understood in three stages. Early stage symptoms are: loosing track of time, forgetfulness and
becoming lost in familiar places. Second stage dementia symptoms are: forgetting recent events
or people’s name, becoming lost at home, difficulty in communication, facing difficulty in terms
of personal care, behavioural changes like repeated questions, wandering around without any
idea. Last stage is total dependence stage and symptoms of last stage are: becoming unaware of
time and place, difficulty in recognizing friends and family members, increasing need of
assistive self-care, walking difficulty, and aggressive behavioural change About Dementia.
(2020).

Pham and et.al., (2018) says that there are various causes due to which an individual can
suffer from dementia. Dementia is majorly caused because of damage to or loss of nerve cells.
Dementia affects every individual differently depending upon part of brain which is affected.
There are many reversable factors that causes dementia such as: subdural haematoma, normal
pressure hydrocephalus, neoplasms and many others. Different types of dementia are grouped
together on the basis of common factors that they have like: protein deposition in brain, affected
part of brain etc.
As mentioned by Donegan and et.al., (2017) there is no one test for determination of type
of dementia from which a person is suffering from. Mostly different type of dementia is
diagnosed in patients on careful examination of their medical history. Laboratory test, physical
examination, changing in day to day functioning, change in thinking and by studying behaviour
of each type of dementia. Many times, it becomes difficult for healthcare professionals to
identify type of dementia because changes that might occur in brain and symptoms of different
types of dementia can overlap. Dementia has no permanent cure but there are different types of
drugs, therapies and medicines can help in management of symptoms of dementia. Some of the
most common therapies used for bringing improvement within dementia patients are:
rehabilitation and occupational therapy, modification in environment therapy etc. Medicines
provided to such patients is cognition enhancing medicine. Donegan and et.al., (2017) further
explains that there are various kinds of risk factors associated with dementia such as: self-
neglect, abuse, exploitation, mocking, depression, poor education, poor nutrition etc. these risk
factors depend upon sage of dementia and environment in which patient live in.
Theme 2 Reasons of safeguarding to service users with dementia
According to the view of Manthorpe and Martineau, (2019) it is extremely important to
safeguard service users with dementia for protection of their health, human rights and wellbeing.
Safeguarding is different kinds of measures that are taken to protect people. According to the
case Act 2014, safeguarding is to protect rights of an adult for living in the society free from any
kind of neglect and abuse. People suffering from dementia are one of those people who are
vulnerable or at risk. Service users suffering from dementia have memory loss problem,
difficulties with orientation, communication difficulties and problem in concentrating. Due to
this it becomes extremely difficult for them to protect themselves. One of the main reasons of
safeguarding service users with dementia is that they are incapable of protecting themselves and

makes it harder for them to fight for their human rights. By focusing upon development of
different kinds of measures though which dementia patients can enhance their physical and
mental health, well-being, support their needs and requirements in a proper manner.
As per the view of Mackay, (2017) Dementia is a vulnerable condition in which
functionality and physical well-being of brain declines continuously. This condition of individual
makes them vulnerable especially for older people who are above 65 years of age. It is important
to safeguard patients with dementia because of various kinds of reasons. Such service users often
face neglegance issue. Service users suffering from dementia are often neglected. Due to this
their physical and mental health can get disturbed. It is one of the main reasons because of which
it becomes important to safeguard service users suffering from dementia. Signs that shows that
dementia patients are being neglected are: weight loss, poor hygiene, degraded living condition,
untreated physical problems and many more. These factors can directly impact both mental and
physical condition of such patients. Another reason because of which it becomes important to
safeguard service users with dementia is because such patients are vulnerable of physical abuse
due to which they can get physical injury, bruising. Not only this many times such people are
abused emotionally as well because of which they can become more sensitive, start mumbling to
themselves. These issues not only impact dementia patients physically but their mental health is
also impacted fear and anxiety in such service users can be increased due to these issues.
As explained by Fenge, (2017) dementia patients cannot take stand for themselves
because of which they are prone and vulnerable. If they are not safeguarded then people can
easily mock, tease them because of which they start isolating them, reduce their involvement in
society because they start losing interest in socializing. This directly impact their speed of
recovery and effectiveness of medication or therapies provided to them is also reduced. Due to
this safeguarding to service users with dementia becomes important. If such patients are not
protected and measures to protect them is not taken then it can result in continuously decreasing
apatite, reduced taste and will reduce meeting new people even their caretakers of healthcare
professional providing them appropriate treatment with. As per the view of Manthorpe and
Martineau, (2019) service users with dementia are many times neglected or abused by their care
takers or nurses as well. Due to this it is important to provide appropriate training to nurse and
care takers so that they can focus upon adopting all the measures though which they can
safeguard patients with dementia. One of the most important reason of safeguarding to service