New dementia strategy for Scotland: summary

How We Will Deliver 

• Building on progress already made – Starting from a strong base, this strategy is designed to build on the wide range of evidence-based approaches already in place in Scotland. It will embed what has had a positive impact, while also supporting us to evaluate and identify where change is needed.
• Collaborate and deliver on these long term aims – With partners, we will develop 2-year delivery plans, starting from the end of 2023. This will focus resources and hold us all accountable for realising the vision and ambitions this strategy sets out.
• Continuing to empower the voices of lived experience – Building on the work to develop this strategy in partnership with our National Dementia Lived Experience Panel, we will continue to support the Panel, alongside our Strategy Advisory Group, to be a critical governance partner in how we deliver on the ambitions they have helped us develop.
• Addressing the experiences of our minority communities – Through the lifespan of this strategy, we will have an enhanced focus on equalities issues, working with others to help to minimise the structural barriers to participation, diagnosis, treatment, support and care, regardless of ethnicity, race, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation and additional disability or neurodivergence. We include a focus on economic disadvantage and the specific issues for remote and rural communities.
• Using our investment wisely – In a challenging financial context, and recognising the importance of community to people living with dementia, we will use the Strategy's ambitions to evaluate where we are investing in dementia treatment, care and support, with a focus on "upstream" investment in community settings to support people to live their best possible lives in their communities. This will be set out in our subsequent delivery plans.