Why Dementia Care at Home Deserves Specific Attention
For many people living with dementia, home is where familiar routines happen, relationships are nurtured, and memories are held. Being able to remain at home can support a person’s independence, wellbeing and sense of identity as their needs change.
That makes dementia care at home uniquely personal, requiring going beyond delivering the tasks set out in a care plan. It means understanding the person, recognising what matters to them, communicating in ways that work for them, and finding opportunities for them to remain comfortable, engaged, and involved in decisions.
For homecare providers, this means building genuine relationships and understanding the person behind the diagnosis. The quality of those everyday interactions can have a significant impact on how someone experiences life with dementia.
As our understanding of dementia care develops, providers need practical ways to reflect on what they are doing well, identify opportunities to improve, and demonstrate consistently excellent practice.
What is NaDCAS?
The National Dementia Care Accreditation Scheme (NaDCAS) helps care providers develop, recognise, and demonstrate exceptional dementia care through a nationally recognised accreditation and evidence-informed framework. Their Framework for Exceptional Dementia Care, developed with universities, sector experts and people with lived experience of dementia, has now been adapted specifically for homecare, recognising the different context in which care is delivered when someone is living in their own home.
The framework brings together nine core foundations to create a holistic view of the elements that contribute to an exceptional experience of dementia care.
It goes beyond regulatory and quality requirements by looking at more than whether care is safe and compliant to consider the experience of the person receiving it. This includes relationships and communication, participation and choice, the environment, meaningful engagement, emotional connection and opportunities for wellbeing and joy.
Most importantly, it gives providers a practical structure for asking an important question: what does exceptional dementia care look and feel like for the people we support?
Why Dementia-Specific Accreditation Matters in Homecare
Dementia care cannot be separated from the person receiving it. A familiar routine, a meaningful conversation, being supported to make a choice or simply feeling understood can all make a difference to someone’s day. In homecare, these moments happen within the person’s own environment, making it particularly important that care is responsive to who they are, how they live, and what matters to them.
A homecare-specific approach provides space to look at these experiences within the home alongside the practical delivery of care. It can help providers recognise strengths, explore areas for development and create a shared understanding across teams of what good dementia care looks like in practice, while demonstrating their commitment in a competitive market.
That is where accreditation goes beyond a badge of recognition to become part of an ongoing commitment to learning, reflection, and improvement.
About NaDCAS Homecare Accreditation
The NaDCAS Homecare Accreditation has been specifically designed for domiciliary care providers, recognising the unique challenges and opportunities of supporting people with dementia in their own homes. It’s a supportive journey of assessment, development and improvement, rather than a one-off inspection.
Each provider works with a dedicated expert case manager who assesses practice against the 70 NaDCAS standards, helping to identify strengths and opportunities for improvement. They then receive a tailored roadmap for improvement, supported by ongoing guidance throughout the process. Following a development period, NaDCAS returns to reassess progress. Providers can then achieve one of three levels of accreditation depending on their progress.
The aim is far removed from judgement or another layer of compliance; it’s to work alongside providers to understand what is happening in practice, celebrate what is working well and support meaningful, sustainable improvement. It offers a way to benchmark dementia care, strengthen practice and demonstrate a genuine commitment to continuously raising the quality of support provided.
Making Exceptional Dementia Care More Accessible
NaDCAS believe improvement should be open to everyone, and so have made their Framework for Exceptional Dementia Care free to access for all care providers, whether or not they choose to pursue accreditation. Providers can use the framework as a practical resource to reflect on their current approach, identify opportunities for development and start conversations within their teams.
Register your interest to receive your copy of the framework here.
Find Out More
Want to learn more about dementia care at home? Join us in conversation with Sam Dondi-Smith, CEO and Founder of NaDCAS, on 7th September at 11am for a webinar exploring the unique considerations of dementia care in the homecare setting and discuss the importance of NaDCAS Homecare Accreditation.
To find out more about NaDCAS, visit www.nadcas.org, or contact Director of Partnerships, Claire Reading, to find out more.