A service set up to reduce police involvement with dementia patients and improve training for officers has won a top accolade.

The Dignity in Dementia Programme, funded by the Police and Crime Commissioner for Cumbria, Peter McCall, received an award at the NHS England Northern Lights Dementia Awards.

The project, entitled 'reducing police call-outs involving people With dementia’, received the runner-up prize in the Living Well category during a recent awards ceremony in Manchester.

Last year, after a short successful pilot, Mr McCall awarded a two-year contract to roll the scheme out across the county.

Training has now been delivered to the majority of front line uniformed officers in Cumbria, including those at the main control room at Penrith who deal with calls or attend incidents involving people with dementia reported missing or found in distress.

Lesley Gill and Diane Smillie, directors of Dignity in Dementia, said: “Police can feel ill-equipped to deal with calls involving people with dementia and may inadvertently make a difficult situation more stressful for the individual they hope to help, and themselves.

"The first objective of the project is to support police officers and PCSOs to become more skilled when responding to these call-outs, so that the individuals with dementia, as well as the officers, have a more positive experience. We then go on to help individuals and families cope better at home.”

Mr McCall added: “I’m delighted that the team have received this award. The project continues to help people to live well with dementia to be safe and more supported in their communities.

"This work directly contributes to the Police and Crime Plan objective to make Cumbria even safer, at the same time reducing the demand on ever more stretched police resources.

“I recently attended one of their training sessions for officers in the north of the county, and was very impressed. The session offered some really practical guidance for front-line staff to enable them to deal more effectively with people with dementia in crisis.”

As part of the work, after police gain family consent, the Dignity in Dementia team visit the person with dementia and their main carer. They carry out a detailed assessment to help identify unmet needs and find the trigger for the behaviour that led to police involvement. They can then help set out strategies to reduce or prevent the behaviour reoccurring.