NICE publishes new dementia care guideline

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published a new guideline for dementia. The guideline, which replaces the 2006 edition, covers assessment, management and support for people living with dementia and their carers.This guideline has been developed by a multidisciplinary guideline committee, using an extensive review of research evidence. To ensure that the committee had the necessary social care expertise, a subgroup of social care practitioners was recruited to develop recommendations in this area.The guideline focuses on areas where there is variation in practice, and enough evidence is available to identify what works best, and where people living with dementia need different care and support to people in the same situation who do not have dementia.This guideline makes evidence-based recommendations aiming to support these areas of practice:

• involving people living with dementia in decisions about their care
• assessment and diagnosis
• interventions to promote cognition, independence and wellbeing
• pharmacological interventions
• managing non-cognitive symptoms
• supporting carers
• staff training and education

The recommendations from this guideline have been included in the NICE pathway on dementia. The pathway brings together all of NICE’s guidelines into an interactive flowchart. There is also brief information about the guideline for people using services, carers and the public at ‘Information for the public’.