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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight the need for proper involvement of people with dementia and carers in policy making and to suggest practical ways to achieve this.Design/methodology/approach Drawing from personal experience derived from a long career in service development in health and social care, the author outlines the importance of recognising that people with dementia and family carers are experts by experience and the merits of involving people at an early stage.Findings The best ideas come from involved people. Without the insights gained through the lived experiences of people with dementia and family carers, policy makers and professionals run the risk of developing costly services that do not meet the needs of those who will be using them.Practical implications A number of key practical pointers are developed and summarised. Engagement and one-off consultations are not enough. Real involvement has to be part of everyday practice, at all levels. It requires investment to enable people with dementia and carers to have a seat at the table, speak about what matters to them and help professionals develop relevant services that meet their needs.Originality/value The author is able to draw on particular insights gained as Programme Lead for Dementia at the Department of Health during the development of the first English National Dementia Strategy and, more recently, experience of developing engagement strategies in various localities. This included supporting people with dementia and family carers before, during and after key events at which they shared their experiences with commissioners and service providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper aims to outline the findings from a research and development project to determine how York might become a more dementia-friendly city and, in drawing out the features, to discuss the benefits for other places. Design/methodology/approach - The project team worked with existing groups and individuals, including people with dementia and family carets, established a cross sector operational group formed of statutory and non-statutory sectors, and developed a wider network to share news and ideas. Findings- York as a city is already responding in many positive ways to the needs of people with dementia and their carets, but there is much more that can be done, there and elsewhere. The project proposes a model - People, Places, Networks and Resources - for analysing the suitability and helpfulness of existing arrangements or features of a place or an organisation in order to realise a more dementia-friendly community Research limitations/implications - The research was commissioned by and restricted to the City of York but there are lessons that can be taken and applied elsewhere. The project was also primarily concerned with the experience of people with dementia, generally post diagnosis, exploring their normal everyday lives as well as the contact they had and interventions from the statutory agencies. Reaching people with dementia who had not yet been diagnosed, or those on the margins of society, especially those living alone, proved hard to achieve. Practical implications - The numbers of people with dementia are expected to double over the next 30 years, with a shrinking of the working population and a tripling of costs to the NHS and social care. The proposed model can be applied anywhere to support the creation of dementia-friendly communities that understand how to help. Social implications - The concept of "dementia-friendliness" is not the exclusive domain of the health and social care world. On the contrary, the research reveals that it is the daily attrition of everyday life where help is most needed. People with dementia and family carets find routine activities most difficult - shopping, managing finances, using transport, keeping active - causing them to withdraw. There are moral, economic and business reasons why we should support people to live well with their dementia, as well as reasons of health and well-being. Originality/value - This project makes a substantial contribution to the literature on what constitutes a dementia-friendly community and how to achieve it. It highlights the need for a wider information and awareness raising campaign for the general public and for anyone working directly with the public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]