Who are We?
The Behaviour Support Services are psychology led multidisciplinary teams within NHS Lothian who specialise in assessment, formulation and intervention for individuals in care homes who experience distressed behaviour. Many of our interventions also aim to help staff to feel less stressed and more confident when caring for these individuals.
- Edinburgh Behaviour Support Service (EBSS) covers all care homes in the Edinburgh Health & Social Care Partnership
- East Lothian Care Home Assessment, Support and Education (ELCHASE) covers all the care homes in the East Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership.
- West Lothian Psychological Approach Team (WELPAT) covers all the care homes in the West Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership.
What We Do?
We provide assessment and support for people with dementia when they experience emotional and cognitive difficulties that result in distressed behaviour. Our aim is to intervene early to provide an evidence based, formulation driven input, before distressed behaviour becomes entrenched and before stress has built up for clients, families and our colleagues in care homes.
The core philosophy of these teams is to use a person- centred approach to understand distressed behaviour by looking at the behaviour as the person’s way of communicating an unmet need.
We complete an initial screening over the phone and then arrange a time to begin full assessment. This will often include gathering information from members of staff, doing observations of the resident, analysing ABC charts completed, speaking with family members and producing personalised strategies with the aim of reducing the frequency and severity of distressed behaviour.
We also offer staff training which maps onto the skilled and enhanced levels of the Promoting Excellence framework. See TRAINING tab for more details.
What do we mean by distressed behaviour?
Distressed behaviour could be any behaviour, including apathy that causes emotional distress within the person with dementia, their carer or others in the environment, (MacKenzie & James 2011).
We receive referrals for lots of different types of distressed behaviour, some examples include:
- Residents refusing assistance with personal care or refusing medication
- Residents becoming verbally or physically aggressive
- Residents becoming restless and finding it difficult to sit down
- Residents trying to leave the care home
- Residents appearing bored or withdrawn, lacking motivation
- Residents requiring high levels of staff time due to anxiety
How Do I Make a Referral?
Contact your GP and ask them to refer the resident to Psychiatry of Old Age through SCI-Gateway. The referrals are then triaged to the appropriate team and we will aim to make contact within a week of receiving the referral. If there is already a CPN involved with the resident then discuss with them whether a referral to the Behaviour Support Services would be appropriate.
If you have any questions and want to get in touch with the teams directly:
Edinburgh Behaviour Support Service (EBSS)
Covers all care homes in the Edinburgh Health & Social Care Partnership
Tel: 01315376044 Email: EBSS@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk
East Lothian Care Home Assessment, Support and Education (ELCHASE)
Cover all the care homes in the East Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership.
Tel: 01620642751 Email: ELCHASE.clinical@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk
West Lothian Psychological Approach Team (WELPAT)
Covers all the care homes in the West Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership.
Tel: 01620642741 Email: WeLPATservice@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk
