The experiences of staff in a specialist mental health service in relation to development of skills for the provision of person centred care for people with dementia

It is estimated that 820,000 people in the UK have dementia. Dementia costs the UK 17 billion a year and in the next 30 years this will treble to over »50 billion a year. There is a need to raise competence of staff delivering care to people living with dementia across health, social and voluntary sector provision. Effective education and training will build capacity and improve staff knowledge. However, at present not enough is known about the experiences of staff involved in gaining the skills, knowledge and attitudes required to support provision of high quality care for people with dementia. This study was conducted within a large National Health Service Trust in the UK serving an urban, ethnically mixed population, in collaboration with a local university. The trust responded to government policy by seeking to identify staff training needs