Dementia 2: early diagnosis and initial nursing care.

In response to concerns over provision of care for people with dementia, NICE and the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) developed a national guideline on supporting patients and carers. The clinical and support issues raised below are based on the NICE/SCIE (2006a) guidance on dementia. The guidance specifies nurses are key professionals in dementia care. Whether they work in mental health or elsewhere all nurses need to understand the guidance to enable sound implememtation across all caer settings.