The National Academy for Social Prescribing is pleased to announce an exciting partnership and funding initiative for the establishment of a new Centre of Excellence for Training in Music and Dementia. Supported by a generous £250,000 grant from the Rayne Foundation, this new Centre will focus on enhancing the health and social care workforce's ability to integrate music into dementia care.
It is part of the Power of Music Fund, a groundbreaking initiative providing more than £2.6 million investment into activities to transform care and support for people with dementia. It will operate alongside the first Power of Music Centre of Excellence for Music and Dementia announced in May, led by Manchester Camerata, sharing learning and helping generate a national step-change in how healthcare utilises music for people with dementia.
Set to open for expressions of interest in October, with further details to be unveiled in mid-September, the second Centre aims to be a transformative force in dementia care over the next three years, and will be focused on one place or region in England.
“We are delighted to be partnering with NASP to ensure that the proven benefits of music to people with dementia and those caring from them, are made much more widely available and on a more sustainable basis. This is a major step forward for music in dementia care, made possible by the impressive commitment to collaboration of the organisations and individuals involved, in the interests of those who will benefit most.”
The initiative will focus on the following key areas:
- Enhanced access: Empowering more people with dementia to experience the health and wellbeing benefits of music, facilitated by trained health and care staff.
- Workforce education: Equipping health and care professionals with the knowledge and skills to incorporate music into their everyday practice, enhancing support for those living with dementia.
- Curriculum integration: Embedding the value of music in dementia care into training materials, workforce development programs, and educational resources.
- Systemic change: Encouraging health and care commissioners and providers to recognise and invest in music as a vital component of dementia care, ensuring it is integrated across workforce training and development systems.
- Social prescribing: Promoting the value and cost-effectiveness of social prescribing, including music-based interventions, as a critical aspect of dementia care.
Charlotte Osborn-Forde, CEO of the National Academy for Social Prescribing, said: “We are very excited to be working with the Rayne Foundation, a hugely impactful funder with a wealth of experience in this area. This partnership will help us achieve a real step change in this sector, and further cement our work to influence national policy and practice to make music accessible for everyone with dementia. The new centre will build on the work of the first centre in Manchester, producing comparative evidence and enabling successful approaches to be scaled up across the country.”
Further information on the Centre of Excellence, including detailed application criteria and outcomes, will be released in the coming weeks.
