Article of the month – October 2020

“Development of best practice recommendations to enhance access to and use of formal community care services for people with dementia in Europe: a Delphi process conducted by the Actifcare project”

Røsvik, J,. Michelet, M., Engedal, K., Bergh, S., Bieber, A., Gonçalves-Pereira, M., Portolani, D., Hopper., L., Irving.K., Jelley, H., Kerpershoek, L., Meyer, G., Marques, MJ., Sjølund, B., Sköldunger, A., Stephan, A., Verhey, F., de Vugt, M., Woods, B., Wolfs, C., Zanetti, O. & Selbæk, G.

This article describes the development of best-practice recommendations on the access to, and use of formal care services. A Delphi consensus process was conducted among professional experts (n=48), people with dementia (n=14), and informal caregivers (n=20). Three categories of recommendations emerged, being recommendations to enhance access (for example having a key contact person), recommendations to enhance use, and recommendations that can facilitate access or use indirectly. These recommendations may be of further use to decision makers to improve the quality of care and quality of life of people with dementia and their informal caregivers. Link to the article: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33030026/