27 leaders were interested in the integrated working approaches with external agencies and improving meaningful engagement with residents in their care settings. Aligning with the approach of integrated working, Alzheimer’s Society were invited in to share their work on meaningful engagement with people living with dementia.

Additional discussion also considered the various agencies in the local and regional areas. Several quality improvement initiatives were taken forward with the aim to enhance meaningful engagement in their care setting for residents.

One group of leaders focused on staff knowledge and understanding of meaningful engagement, delivering training sessions to meet specific areas of support, and the importance of their role as leaders to ‘lead by example’. Another group of leaders focused on improving communication and engagement with residents by sharing ideas, approaches and examples of meaningful engagement taking place in their care settings through a newsletter.

The next group of leaders focused on creating community spaces where residents could spend quality time together through supper clubs, and in one case when this didn’t work so well a tea club in the afternoon. The last group focused on the power of reminiscing, residents having the opportunity to tell their story in a personalised way creates opportunities for residents, relatives and staff to share meaningful engagement.

Residents' voices were kept at the heart of these initiatives and the impact of these initiatives saw improvements across several areas of health and wellbeing. Leaders noted a reduction in falls, weight gain for residents with low BMI, and improvements in hydration for residents.

There were observed improvements in the atmosphere in the home, staff morale, and staff understanding and engagement with residents. Relatives feedback was profound. Meaningful engagement is recognised by leaders as a significant factor to improving the quality of life of residents living in care settings.