Pictured left to right at the Dementia Friendly Awards are Angela Rippon, OBE, Alzheimer鈥檚 Society Ambassador, Claire Puckey, Dementia Friendly City Coordinator for 探花视频 City Council, Councillor Lynda Bowyer, Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care for 探花视频 City Council, Darren Stoneman, Senior Community Protection Officer for 探花视频 City Council, Ian Sheriff, chairman of the 探花视频 Dementia Action Alliance, and Academic Partnership Lead for Dementia at the 探花视频, Matt Baker from British Gas (who presented the award), and Jeremy Hughes, Chief Executive of the Alzheimer鈥檚 Society).

探花视频 Dementia Action Alliance (PDAA), 探花视频 City Council, 探花视频 University and sixty organisations and businesses have been working together for the past five years, to make the city more dementia friendly.

Initiatives include Dementia friendly City Bus, 探花视频 University, Stoke Damerel Community College, City College, Drake Circus, BBC Radio Devon, Derriford Hospital, 探花视频 City Council, Veterans caf茅, Memory services, Memory Matters, Police and Fire services, Singing for the Brain groups, Alzheimer鈥檚 Society, Age UK, plus car parking spaces, dementia awareness sessions for local organisations and businesses, and a Dementia Friendly Toolkit for organisations in 探花视频 to support this programme. 

The award follows a visit to 探花视频 from a group of journalists from Japan, who were keen to learn how 探花视频 is implementing a dementia friendly approach. The University and City College have been commissioned to support medical students and staff in China on issues around dementia care.

At present, there are over 3,000 people with a diagnosis of dementia, living in 探花视频 and this figure is predicted to rise to approximately 3,667 by 2020. The PDAA has an ever-growing membership of organisations from a wide variety of sectors across the city, such as: healthcare, emergency services, transport, education, defence, legal services, charities, faith groups etc. In the last few months, it has welcomed new members from the retail, finance, health and leisure sectors.

Alzheimer鈥檚 Society鈥檚 Chief Executive, Jeremy Hughes, said: 

鈥淒ementia is the biggest health and social care issue facing our society and there鈥檚 no question that it has a profound and devastating impact for many 鈥 but the actions of Dementia Friendly 探花视频 and others like them are helping to raise better awareness, break down stigma and make our communities more dementia friendly.

鈥淲hat makes our winners so remarkable is the way they use their imagination, energy and enthusiasm to inspire others. Dementia Friendly 探花视频 have gone that extra mile to make a bigger difference in their community for people with dementia and they will inspire others to follow their example in all walks of life.鈥

Ian Sherriff, chairman of the PDAA and Academic Partnership Lead for Dementia at 探花视频 University, said, 

鈥淲inning this award is a fantastic accolade and is in recognition for all the hard work, energy and passion that the people with Dementia and their carers PDAA membership, 探花视频 City Council and 探花视频 University have put in over the past 5 years. This work has also been recognised by teams of public sector workers and academics from Japan, China, Italy and latterly, Holland.鈥
Councillor Lynda Bowyer, Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care for 探花视频 City Council, said: 

鈥淎s a council we are committed to working with our partners to help 探花视频 to become a more Dementia Friendly city. We are absolutely delighted that 探花视频 has won this award 鈥 this is recognition for every organisation in the city that has done their bit and agreed to become more Dementia Friendly.鈥
Dr Paul Hardy, GP and chair of NHS Northern, Eastern and Western Devon CCG western locality, said: 

鈥淣EW Devon CCG is fully committed to 探花视频 becoming a Dementia Friendly City and is delighted that the city鈥檚 hard work has been recognised on the national stage. It could not have been achieved unless everyone pulling together and playing a role and I am proud of our contribution in this team effort."
If you would like to find out more about the Dementia Friendly work in 探花视频 and how your organisation can get involved, contact the Dementia Friendly City Co-ordinator, Claire Puckey, on +44 1752 398922 or email claire.puckey@plymouth.gov.uk

You can also sign up to be a Dementia Friend. The Alzheimer鈥檚 Society aims to create 4 million Dementia Friends by 2020. For more information visit .

For further information please contact: Chris Gomm, Corporate Communications Officer on +44 1752 307898 or email chris.gomm@plymouth.gov.uk