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Government guidelines promote service user consultation without providing extensive advice on people in later dementia. “Seen as too difficult to involve, they are effectively excluded from […] influenc(ing) service provision”, especially institutional care residents (Clare and Cox, 2003, p. 936). This hard-to-reach group presents methodological challenges. The purpose of this paper is to explore innovative approaches, offering even those with fragmented or lost speech the opportunity to contribute to decisions about their care.

This specialist dementia home consultation included staff and every resident, irrespective of the level of their communication impairment. Consultation on potential colour schemes took the form of a ballot. Staff helped develop an unpatronising, person-centred approach. Visual aids supported communication, de-emphasising the spoken word and promoting inclusion.

The majority of residents appeared to express an opinion on the potential decor. Others chose a colour while not necessarily grasping the context. The approach engaged all except four.

Even people with moderate/advanced dementia may be enabled to participate in consultation. Further research needs to refine methodology to include everyone and clarify the interpretation of results.

Service providers may widen their expectations of inclusivity in consultation exercises.

This consultation is important to researchers and practitioners because it explores ways of communicating, which avoid privileging the spoken word, revealing seldom-recognised abilities in people with moderate/advanced dementia.

Barchester Healthcare's Memory Lane Communities programme is gaining recognition for its standards in specialist care for people with dementia. In this article, Sheena Wyllie and Val Gains explain the company's philosophy, which recognises that every person is an individual. It is practised by staff who undergo training in Barchester's bespoke dementia care programme, which places the family at the heart of the process of understanding the person with dementia.

Through a literature review, this article aims to identify the needs of those people with dementia who wish to remain at home, and those of their carers. It goes on to model a range of services that can be linked together to meet these needs comprehensively.

Uncertainty over ethical impact may hinder uptake of assistive technology (AT) in dementia. This study aims to examine whether AT contributes to person‐centred care, whether users can participate in research and to explore ethical dilemmas with users, family and professional carers.

People with dementia, at home or in residential care, and carers were allocated equipment and consulted about ethics. In a small, qualitative study, data were collected using semi‐structured interviews and vignettes and content‐analysed to establish themes.

AT in person‐centred dementia care requires meticulous assessment, reliability and availability in rapidly evolving situations. Users displayed insight, logic and empathy in ethical evaluation. They disliked remote monitoring and surveillance, whereas carers were pragmatic, prioritising safety.

This research provides further evidence that users with dementia can be included in research. It demonstrates a significant potential role for AT in dementia care, with an ethical checklist to help professionals evaluate ethical dilemmas.

AT potentially increases wellbeing, enabling users to remain longer at home, delaying or avoiding moves to or between homes.

Policy has identified the need for integrated dementia services for older people. However, the role of the formal carer within an integrated framework of service delivery has not been well articulated in practice. The aim of this paper is to understand the experiences of formal carers working with the context of an integrated dementia service by exploring findings from a research‐based evaluation.

The evaluation captured the experiences of formal carers working within the service via observations, semi‐structured interviews and focus groups.

Working with an integrated service brings about individual, social and organisational challenges to the role of the formal carer, in terms of: delivering flexibility and responsiveness, providing continuity of care, ensuring cross‐organisational working and acquiring skills, knowledge and expertise.

To facilitate the successful delivery of integrated care, the emerging role of the formal carer needs to be more clearly articulated and supported within a service context.