VIPS Dementia Toolkit

The VIPS Framework was first outlined in Professor Dawn Brookers book, Person-Centred Dementia Care.  This has now become a nationally recognised framework for Dementia Care and has become the very definition of person centered care.  Coolcare has encompassed this fantastic body of work and uses the VIPS Framework to support the work of care homes.  VIPS is made up of the following elements:

Work with the Association of Dementia Studies

If you would like to work with the University of Worcester: Association of Dementia Studies.  They happy to discuss any needs that you might have for expert dementia advice or evaluations based on the ongoing implementation of Person Centred Care – VIPS evaluations and action planning.

VIPS stands for:

V = Values people – Values and promotes the rights of the person
I = Individual’s needs – Provides individualised care according to needs
P = Perspective of service user – Understands care from the perspective of the person with dementia
S = Supportive social psychology – Social environment enables the person to remain in relationship

The guiding principles behind VIPS are:

  • Do my actions show that I respect, value and honour this person?
  • Am I treating this person as a unique individual?
  • Am I making a serious attempt to see my actions from the perspective of the person I am trying to help? How might my
    actions be interpreted by them?
  • Do my actions help this person to feel socially confident and that they are not alone?
The VIPS assessments helps you rate your own home’s progress in its management of those suffering with dementia.  It provides you with a framework for continuous improvement.  You can complete the entire assessment at once, or take it a piece at a time.  There are detailed, illustrative questions for each of the twenty-five VIPS standards.

If you want an overview of your home’s care, tackle the whole assessment. There are around 200 questions, so allow a little time! This will give you a good picture of how you feel your home is achieving overall.

Alternatively, if you want to study one particular area of your home’s care, choose the appropriate assessment from this list.
If possible, make time to do the assessment with others from your home environment. If you choose people from a different place (e.g. the kitchen), at different times (e.g. night shift) or for different reasons (e.g. a resident’s husband or wife) you will get a much more realistic picture.

For those of you who are not fortunate enough to have Coolcare, the fantastic work of Professor Brooker received attention from the NHS who funded the community interest company Equip 4 Change to design and launched a free online platform for the VIPS system which is available here:  http://carefitforvips.co.uk

 

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