Dementia MasterClass: development and progress

by Dr Ross DunneThe first Dementia MasterClass was held in Manchester in February 2016 and brought dementia stakeholders together for the development of an interactive pathway, a PDF document which is a practical guide for those dealing with people with dementia or their carers.From that beginning, in the last 18 months the Dementia MasterClass has delivered training to almost 150 geriatricians and neurologists, old age psychiatrists, psychologists, palliative care doctors, specialist nurses and many GPs. We have also given bespoke sessions for individual GP groups in Kilburn in London.In February 2017 Ira Leroi, Ross Overshott and Ross Dunne went as far afield as Sharjah, near Dubai, to deliver the first International MasterClass to the Global Mental Health workshop run by the Pakistan Institute of Living and Learning (PILL). The challenges are, as you can imagine, enormous. It is an exceptionally tall order to “pitch” a course over one day or two, which addresses the learning needs of all the delegates. We continue to rely on our pre-course questionnaires to give us direction and scope, and each and every Dementia MasterClass is different for this very reason. As usual, the workshop format goes down a treat and feedback has been universally good, and sometimes great.The Dementia MasterClass now has a WhatsApp group (because why would anyone want time off?) and our aim is to eventually provide the same mentor-mentee relationship available through the Parkinson’s MasterClass, which has been responsible for the enormous improvements in resource development and service delivery across the country. We are also looking towards providing training opportunities in Australasia and the Indian subcontinent, relishing the challenges provided by delivering not only expertise-specific, but culturally-specific training in dementia diagnosis and care.Read the full Neurology Academy 2017 newsletter here