TEL: 01273 514060
15 NEWHAVEN SQUARE, NEWHAVEN, EAST SUSSEX, BN9 9QS

About us

Contact us

Contact us

    We started as the Worthing Area Dementia Forum in October 2013 organising bi-monthly public meetings at Guild Care and the Worthing Alzheimer Society’s head offices. Supported by Carers Support West Sussex and Coastal West Sussex Mind, we set out to establish a dementia friendly community in the Worthing area.

    Run by volunteers, with the assistance of the above charities, our vision remains to create a dementia friendly community where people living with dementia and their unpaid carers are active participants within the local area. Our aim is to make Worthing, and its surroundings, a place where people living with the disease can remain independent and have choice and control over their lives within a safe, rewarding and supportive environment.

    People who live with dementia talk about the effect of social isolation and stigma. They have told us how they have lost friends following a diagnosis and find it a struggle to use local services.

    Common misunderstandings such as ‘it’s an inevitable part of ageing’ and ‘nothing can be done to improve the lives of people living with dementia’ prevents society becoming dementia-friendly and supporting those who need it most. This is why establishing a Dementia Friendly Community is vitally important.

    The original forum became the Worthing Dementia Action Alliance towards the end of 2015 and our local Dementia Friends Champions have created 2,859 Dementia Friends within the local Worthing area. In October 2017 we agreed a constitution at our inaugural AGM.

    Meetings have included a wide variety of speakers including Dr Bikram Raychaudhury, CCG Lead for Dementia and Lucy Frost, Dementia Nurse Consultant, Sussex Community NHS Partnership Trust. Topics discussed have included financial care planning, local service provision for people with dementia, end-of-life guidance, care fees, Power of Attorney, the hospital Butterfly Scheme, respite and safeguarding, to name but a few.

    We have volunteered endlessly to establish Worthing as a truly Dementia Friendly Community working not just with people living with dementia and their carers but with the wider stakeholders who, working together, can improve the lives of people with dementia in the Worthing area. This has included our fire and rescue services, local authorities, community groups, charities, businesses, care providers and health trusts.

    The Worthing Dementia Action Alliance is supported by local businesses, organisations and charities – details of these can be viewed here and, if you are a local business or organisation, we invite you to join those who have already signed-up.

    Each member organisation has created an action plan outlining how they will support people with dementia and their carers. Within the Worthing area, there are many employees and customers affected by the disease and we feel that every individual, club, group, service and organisation have a valuable part to play.

    Download full membership form 

    Our original website, launched in December 2016, was funded by West Sussex County Council initially for a year, and became a vital phase in encouraging more people and businesses to join the Worthing Dementia Alliance. We have had sponsorship over the last few years to keep the website ticking over and volunteers are key to keeping it up to date.

    In spring 2021 we were successful with a grant from the National Lottery Community Fund to establish a Worthing Dementia Hub, together with new local services, in partnership with the Abbeyfield Ferring Society. 

    Many people know us as Dementia Friendly Worthing, and you can find us on that website address as well as the new Worthing Dementia Hub domain name.  We hope you like the new refreshed look which has been updated with information, advice, and details of local services. 

    The website supports people with dementia, their carers and families. The website is full of information, advice, and signposting. The website is well-used by local health professionals, employers, councillors, students, GPs, community stakeholders and charities, who are all keen to ‘make a difference’ to help people ‘live well’ with dementia and maintain their independent lifestyles for as long as they can.

    If you know of any changes to the services mentioned on these pages that need to be changed, please don’t hesitate to contact Fine Marketing with the details.

    To contact Dementia Friendly Worthing please contact us