New blog on Thought Diversity and dementia

Thought diversity is a great practice that is being embraced within some parts of the NHS e.g., http://www.nhsiq.nhs.uk/capacity-capability/thought-diversity.aspx. The premise is that diversity of thought is critical to improvement and innovation and so by including different voices the conversation can not only change but also service improvement.

Thought diversity has been particularly embraced by those within the dementia community who see within it an opportunity to being the thoughts of people with dementia and carers into the policy and decision making conversation (http://shibleyrahman.com/dementia-2/thought-diversity-is-necessary-for-people-living-well-with-dementia-to-get-a-fair-hearing/). This is particularly welcome as a move towards hearing the voices of people living with dementia and their carers as diverse groups within themselves.

This brings me to my early morning thought and reflection on the work we have been doing with carers and people living with dementia over the last two years, and the fantastic amount of thought diversity that that there is displayed in the carers’ voices on www.dementiacarer.net. Our intention in the videos was always to allow the carers to share their experiences and solutions to the difficulties that they face. This has resulted in a wide range of ways of looking at situations and finding individual solutions. Whilst funded by the NHS and Local Authorities it is not branded to demonstrate this as the ownership of the ideas and thoughts within are those of the carers themselves – even when on occasion they things that we or professionals, might not like to hear.

This made me wonder how we can use the resource more widely, and what there uses might be?