Structured routines, creative programmes and personalised support build confidence and independence, while reducing isolation and offering respite to family carers. Jewish Care’s family carer support workers also help families understand dementia, plan ahead and feel less alone. Julie and Simon also attend the monthly Memory Way Cafés, which harness reminiscence to create a supportive, stimulating and sociable environment.
Over the next five years, Jewish Care plans to expand specialist dementia services and double the number of people supported. The organisation’s expertise has been recognised nationally – its community dementia services won the Dementia Care & Engagement Award at the National Activity Awards 2025 and were finalists in the Dementia Care Awards 2026.
As dementia progresses and needs become more complex, Jewish Care continues to provide specialist, person-centred dementia support in its care homes.
At Jewish Care’s Otto Schiff care home, part of the Maurice and Vivienne Wohl Campus in Golders Green, dementia support begins with understanding each person as an individual, so staff can provide tailored care. Staff have been trained to do this using the DementiAbility approach.
Penny Johns, one of Jewish Care’s dementia practitioners who delivers the programme, says, “DementiAbility is a globally recognised programme from Canada, adopted by Jewish Care to strengthen person-centred dementia care.
“At Otto Schiff and Kun Mor & George Kiss Home, the first two care homes in the UK to achieve DementiAbility accreditation, we embedded a whole-home approach. Our care teams completed in-depth specialist training, while volunteers, hospitality and administration colleagues undertook tailored dementia awareness sessions, ensuring their interactions support independence, dignity, emotional wellbeing and social connection.”
When Anita moved into Otto Schiff care home, staff noticed she was often withdrawn and anxious, especially in group activities. Through Jewish Care’s DementiAbility approach, the team explored her life story, including a long career in teaching and a love of poetry and reading. The care team reintroduced familiar routines, including short reading sessions and shared poetry – some of which Anita had written herself; and she became calmer, more engaged and more confident. Grahame, Anita’s husband, says: “Anita is a wonderful wife who devoted herself to family and teaching. She has a love of reading and writing poetry. We are very happy that she is being looked after in such a caring environment.”
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Stanley, a former jazz drummer who is living with advanced dementia at Kun Mor & George Kiss Home, has benefited from DementiAbility. With support from a music therapist, he has reconnected to his life of music and now plays the drums regularly, to the joy of his wife Lynnette.
The care team also discovered Stanley had been a professional ice hockey player and arranged a visit to a Haringey Huskies pre-match warm-up so he could re-experience the atmosphere of the ice rink.
Lynnette says: “The personalised DementiAbility programme has made a tremendous difference to Stanley and myself. Seeing him play the drums again and smile is incredibly special.”
Yomi Essiet, registered manager at Kun Mor and George Kiss Home, says: “It is great to see residents being encouraged and supported to remain in control of their daily choices and activities. The smiles on their faces and the improved mental wellbeing we have observed shows DementiAbility is working positively in their best interests.”
In the community and in residential care, these approaches bring personal meaning and help people living with dementia, and those close to them, to experience a healthy future every day.
Jewish Care Direct Helpline, for guidance on health and social care matters: 020 8922 2222, helpline@jcare.org
