I Forget: The dementia service from Age UK Lincoln & South Lincolnshire

Age UK Lincoln & South Lincolnshire’s new dementia service is called ‘I forget.’ It focuses on supporting everyone and those around them, at whatever stage they may be at. This can be from becoming forgetful to a dementia diagnosis and throughout.

Annie, who recently lost a loved one to Dementia said “The hardest part about caring for someone with dementia is watching the person you know and love, change before your eyes and seeing their frustrations. Trying to access support can often lead to chasing your tail and our local services are overwhelmed. Dementia doesn’t wait until you reach the top of the list.”

“Having a person to call by name who takes the time to get to know you and your needs with support ready to give will be invaluable. It takes the pressure from questions such as What next? Who can support me? Who can I call when I’m feeling overwhelmed?”

A person-centered service is our top priority. Getting to know someone by name, who you get to know, and forming a trusting relationship in times when someone needs support is invaluable.

 In the first month, we received 55 referrals, 63 emails of interest, and 28 additional phone calls from a standing start. The contact just kept coming as local Doctors, Carers, Community Nurses, and Support workers began to learn of the new service. From July 2023 to December 2023 we have received 269 referrals, 639 telephone calls, and 617 emails from individuals looking for a guided pathway. Needless to say, we haven't stopped since launch and we are showing no signs of slowing down as numbers continue to increase.

 We physically shed a tear of pride, relief, and satisfaction when we see previously unsupported and desperate people now on a supported pathway. One lady, in particular, found the 'I Forget' personalised support and comfort incredible. In her own words: 

“Up until last May I was floundering with the emotion and diagnosis of my husband's dementia. Having left the Dr, we were then all alone with this awful situation. At first, it was a case of investigation as to what that could mean in the future and this was done independently by ourselves. After a time, the full impact of what this might mean hit us like a train crash. It was then we asked for support for ourselves via emergency help via an organisation gaining a supporter was supposed to be consistent and reliable. It turned out not so.

For most of the past year, we have had help from social services to give us hints of what help there is when one is desperate. We became sausages in the sausage machine. Much of this was already in place, done by ourselves. What it did not do was give and meet the real needs of sufferers by giving someone who can really take time to listen.

Your new service has probably saved my life as I have been so distressed to the point of despair. It keeps my husband out of the care home which is his destiny without me. Mine too as I'm being destroyed by loneliness and situational isolation. I flounder alone as this disease is different for everyone we do not know where we are going. Then seeds of what might become about entering into conversation leaflets and form filling, and that is more threatening than ever.

The fact that what most carers need is someone to reassure and listen is not allowed for by mainstream organisations. We have been entered into the machine (helpful as that might be).

The real help is the care and consideration that you via Kelly give. The opportunity to be understood as an individual and to be offered real emotional and factual support is needed desperately. Carers are doing the work of other agencies and Stand all alone. We live in constant fear of everything.

Your scheme cures that issue.

We are not old and defunct or inadequate just because of ageism. We have come a long way in life alone and just need confidence and help to survive this colossal blow to our life. Fear governs every moment and having a shoulder is all we really need to be free on judgemental thinking or misinterpretation of words we speak under tremendous strain.

I want to tell you what you do is totally invaluable and not replicated elsewhere. Thank you so much I rely on you for my sanity and equilibrium / even my survival as death seems the only escape at times”.

For more information on the I Forget service or the work of Age UK Lincoln and South Lincolnshire, please contact iforget@ageuklsl.org.uk