Agnes Houston MBE is a member of the Dementia Alumni, Vice Chair of the European Dementia Working Group and board member of Dementia Alliance International. She is also currently an Exchange Fellow at the University of Edinburgh and former chair of the Scottish Dementia Working Group.
Agnes – like our first speaker Joy Watson – focused on her personal experiences of navigating health and social care officialdom as a person living with dementia. Specifically, Agnes highlighted the difficulties she has encountered during the Dementia Assessment. From the frustrations of too much paperwork, to the loss of dignity and lack of good outcomes for her or carer, Agnes asked whether these issues happen with other long term conditions, noting that her respiratory condition was dealt with in a very different fashion. One where her outcomes mattered and she was given personal and self management support. Compare this to dementia, where there is no self management to support the space between the 5 and 8 pillars in the existing model of care.
Please watch the video below for Agnes' full presentation.