After a dementia diagnosis: why the moment of care matters

Like many people working in dementia, I read with interest the recent interview with the new CEO of the Alzheimer's Society, Michelle Dyson CB. I welcomed her honesty about the challenges people continue to face after receiving a diagnosis. Families have been describing this experience for years. I have lived it. Too often, they leave with a diagnosis of dementia, but very little confidence about how they might navigate their lives when they get home.

The calls for better post-diagnostic support, improved services and greater investment are both necessary and welcome. Meaningful change across health and social care is essential. However, even with the greatest commitment, those changes cannot happen overnight. Services take time to develop, funding has to be found, professionals need training and new ways of working must become established. That process is measured in years, while people continue to receive a diagnosis every day.

For the past four years we have been asking a slightly different question: How do we help someone in the next moment they spend with a person living with dementia? We have come to think of this as the moment of care.

The moment of care is not defined by a profession or a setting. It might happen between a husband and wife sitting quietly at home, a daughter visiting her father, a volunteer meeting someone for the first time, a care assistant supporting a resident, or a nurse helping a patient on a busy hospital ward. Although every situation is different, they all share one thing in common: one human being is trying to connect with another.

It has always seemed to us that this is where dementia care is ultimately experienced, yet it often receives the least attention. Policies, research, professional education and service development all matter enormously, but they ultimately succeed or fail in these ordinary human interactions. If we can make those moments feel more confident, more natural and more rewarding, we improve the experience of dementia care wherever it takes place.

That belief has shaped everything we have created at Timeless Presents. Rather than assuming people need extensive specialist knowledge before they can make a positive difference, we have focused on making good dementia practice understandable and immediately usable. Every product is accompanied by practical guidance. Our books are written to translate ideas into everyday interactions. Our aim has never been simply to provide activities, but to translate good dementia care principles into everyday interactions that anyone can put into practice. We have deliberately avoided creating resources that sit behind expensive accreditation or require continual updating before they remain useful. Instead, we have tried to create understanding that stays with people and can be applied wherever the next moment of care happens.

Over time we have also learned that confidence is often a greater barrier than compassion. Most people want to help. They worry about saying the wrong thing, doing the wrong thing or making matters worse. When that uncertainty is reduced, something remarkable often happens. People stop concentrating on whether they are "doing dementia correctly" and begin concentrating on the person sitting in front of them.

Much of our work has been guided by a simple observation from our own family's experience. When communication becomes more difficult, people do not stop exploring the world around them or seeking connection with others. They continue trying to make sense of what they can see, touch and experience. We believe that exploration remains one of the ways people continue to understand the world, even when communication becomes more difficult. Rather than testing memory, we focus on creating opportunities for curiosity, confidence and shared discovery. Those principles can support families, volunteers and professionals alike because they are rooted in the interaction itself, rather than the environment in which it happens.

I hope the current national conversation leads to the improvements that are so clearly needed. Better services will make a real difference to many people. At the same time, I hope we continue to recognise that practical support does not just belong within formal systems. Families cannot wait until every service is redesigned before they begin living with dementia. They need approaches that help them today, in the ordinary moments that make up everyday life.

Perhaps that is where the greatest immediate opportunity lies. Alongside improving the system, we can also help people feel more confident in the moment of care. Those two ambitions are not in competition with one another. They are complementary, and together they offer the best chance of improving life for people living with dementia and those who care about them.

Timeless Presents concepts in this article

• The Moment of Care – The everyday interaction where one person tries to connect with another person living with dementia.

• Practical confidence – Helping families, volunteers and professionals feel able to support someone without needing specialist dementia training first.

• Everyday interactions – Translating dementia care principles into practical actions that can be used in homes, hospitals, care homes and community settings.

• Timeless Presents – We create practical tools and accessible books that help translate dementia care principles into everyday interactions, building carers' confidence and understanding without requiring formal training.