Transforming dementia education and training

Care home staff need the right knowledge, skills and attitudes to deliver good care to residents. Our team has developed the 'Learning to Care' (LtC) model explaining the learning environment in CHs, which includes formal training, informal (shadowing/mentoring) and incidental (on the job experience) learning, influenced by workplace culture and resources. Little is known about how to deliver ideal learning environments in care homes. The ‘Learning to Care study’ will address this gap by understanding what ideal learning environments look like in care homes and how they can be implemented. This will include in-depth mixed methods case studies in care homes, development of a toolkit of resources to support care homes to improve their learning environment and implementation and evaluation of this.

To read more about the study please visit the Learning to Care project page.

• Chief Investigators: Professor Claire Surr and Dr Isabelle Latham
• Leeds Beckett investigators: Dr Rachael Kelley, Professor Sarah Smith, Dr Nicky Taylor, Dr Emma Hooper
• Funder: National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), Health and Social Care Delivery Research programme (HS&DR)
• Funding amount: £1,600,231.99

A range of evidence, including our own What Works research study, has consistently reported that a well-trained workforce provides better quality care. This research has drawn on this evidence and the key components that define best practice dementia training to assess training currently being provided to care staff across the social care sector.

This research provides a sector specific overview of dementia training for the social care workforce from the perspective of social care providers and recipients of training in England Wales and Northern Ireland. It proposes a series of tangible and practical evidence informed recommendations, with costs, to facilitate the delivery of best practice dementia training for the social care workforce.

To read more about the study please visit The Training Gap project page.

• Chief Investigator: Professor Sarah Smith
• Leeds Beckett investigators: Professor Claire Surr
• Funder: Alzheimer’s Society

This doctoral research seeks to understand how Montessori-based approaches to dementia care are interpreted from training and enacted in the delivery of care in two different care home provider organisations. It aims to examine the dynamic processes through which training, knowledge, values and attitudes are translated into everyday practice and analyse the barriers and enablers at the micro (relational), meso (organisational), and macro (societal) levels.

• Chief Investigator: Penny Johns (PhD student)
• Supervisors: Professor Claire Surr and Professor Sarah Smith

The Person-Centred Observation and Reflection Tool (PORT) is a reflective observation tool, grounded in person-centred care, to support staff to develop empathic skills and their own practice. It addresses the current gap for a simple to learn and use, observation tool that is accessible to all staff. It was developed by the international consortium the Person First dementia Network (PFdN). A network of which the Centre for Dementia Research at Leeds Beckett University is a member.

To read more about PORT please visit the PORT project page.

• Chief Investigator: Professor Claire Surr
• Funder: None to date

People who have dementia often get distressed when they are in hospital. Distress can be shown by agitation, aggression or calling out. How healthcare practitioners say things can calm or inflame a difficult situation, but this has not been studied in detail in this setting. 'Conversation Analysis' is a research method which looks at the fine detail of the language we use, including 'body language', and the responses to it. This study used conversation analysis to identify approaches that work by reducing distress in video recording of interactions between staff and patients with dementia in acute hospitals. We used this information to develop a training programme on communication approaches to help prevent and support distress and delivered this to staff in three acute hospitals. We used in-depth case studies on two wards at each hospital site to assess the impact of the training.

We found the training led to improvements in staff communication knowledge and confidence in caring for people with dementia. Staff reported feeling the programme had helped them to identify a range of communication approaches that they planned to implement in practice. While challenging to organise and deliver for hospitals, staff did perceive the training to be beneficial to their practice.

You can access the VOICE 2 resources by visiting the study website.

Publication: O’Brien et al (2025) Implementation of dementia communication skills training in acute hospitals: a longitudinal, mixed methods case study evaluation. Aging & Mental Health. 30 (7).

• Chief Investigator: Professor Rowan Harwood, University of Nottingham
• Leeds Beckett Investigators: Professor Claire Surr, Dr Marie Jones
• Funder: National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), Health and Social Care Delivery Research programme (HS&DR)
• Funding amount: £828,827

This study aimed to identify the features of effective dementia education and training for the health and social care workforce and to map current English dementia training provision against best practice standards.

To read more about the study please visit the What Works? project page.

• Chief Investigator: Professor Claire Surr
• Leeds Beckett investigators: Dr Sarah Smith, Cara Sass, Dr Sarah Burden
• Funder: Department of Health Policy Research Programme on behalf of Health Education England.
• Funding amount: £462,757

This consultancy project involved working with homecare provider Anglian Care and Virtual reality (VR) company Moonhub to co-develop VR-based dementia training for Anglian Care’s staff. We also conducted an evaluation of the training including staff reactions and its impact on staff knowledge, attitudes and confidence in caring for someone with dementia.

• Research lead: Professor Claire Surr
• Leeds Beckett Investigators: Dr Sarah Smith
• Funder: Anglian Care

This consultancy project involved development of training materials to accompany Health Education England’s Finding Patience films.

• Consultancy lead: Dr Sarah Smith
• Funder: Health Education England
• You can download the training materials from Health Education England’s website

This consultancy project involved co-developing Managing Success; a free support resource for social care services, with Skills for Care and Skills for Health. The resource provides details of training materials that can be used to develop and deliver dementia training that aligns with Tier 2 of the Dementia Training Standards Framework and the outcomes of the What Works? study.

• Consultancy Lead: Professor Claire Surr
• Funder: Health Education England
• You can download the Managing Success resource

This consultancy project involves updating the existing e-learning for health modules on dementia designed for use by General Practitioners. It is commissioned by Health Education England.

• Consultancy lead: Dr Sarah Smith
• Funder: Health Education England