About the Age and Dementia Friendly Brighton & Hove Action Plan

Age and Dementia Friendly Brighton & Hove works in partnership with residents and partners across the public, private, voluntary and community sectors to build a city where everyone can be supported to live healthy, active lives and keep doing the things they enjoy.

Resident and partner feedback is used to improve the lives of residents in 8 key areas of the city:  

  1. Community support and social participation.
  2. Civic participation and employment.
  3. Health, wellbeing, social care and housing. 
  4. Built environment and outdoor spaces.
  5. Transport.
  6. Carer support.
  7. Safety.
  8. Positive ageing.

Brighton & Hove's Age and Dementia Friendly 8 domains

An image showing Brighton & Hove Age and Dementia Friendly 8 key areas, listed above

This Action Plan sets out the steps that Brighton & Hove City Council departments and local organisations will take over the next 3 years to help make Brighton & Hove a great place to live and grow older.

It has been updated following the Age and Dementia Friendly Brighton & Hove Survey, which ran from 14 October 2024 to 6 January 2025, and was completed by 257 residents. 

The plan is a live document and will continue to be updated in response to feedback from residents and partners, with further engagement planned for communities underrepresented in the survey.

It aims to be inclusive of everyone in the city, including:

  • Black and Racially Minoritised communities
  • LGBTQ+ residents
  • people with learning difficulties
  • people living with Young Onset Dementia

Delivery will take place within the context of reduced budgets, with actions prioritised and implemented where feasible. 

 

1. Community support and social participation

Aim

Older people and people living with dementia have a sense of purpose and opportunities to connect, participate and contribute.  

Agreed actions

  1. Provide and promote clear, accessible information about services, helplines, activities, and events in different ways so people can easily find what they need.
  2. Provide a wide range of inclusive, affordable activities at different times and in local areas that reflect the diversity of older people and people living with dementia.
  3. Support digital inclusion by sharing digital help services, making online information easier to use, and providing printed information for people who cannot get online.
  4. Find and use new ways to reach people who feel lonely or isolated.

2. Civic participation and employment

Aim

Older people and people living with dementia can access the work and volunteering opportunities that they want. 

Agreed actions

  1. Promote activities, volunteering opportunities, and services that support people moving into retirement, and support at least one information event to share this information.
  2. Provide clear, up-to-date online and printed information to help people understand and access financial support.
  3. Promote age-friendly workplaces by delivering challenging ageism training and encouraging employers to sign the Age Friendly Employers Pledge.

3. Health and wellbeing, social care and housing

Aim

Older people and people living with dementia have access to appropriate health and wellbeing, social care and accommodation that meet their needs.  

Agreed actions: Health

  1. Promote ways to keep the brain healthy and create culturally inclusive messages for people most at risk, using creative ways to engage with communities.
  2. Support health information events for residents and service providers on different topics, such as dementia, vision, and hearing loss.
  3. Share information and support that helps create communities where everyone can be more active, live well, and stay healthy.
  4. Promote current inclusive physical activity options and explore new ones, including accessible sports and swimming.
  5. Explore ways to engage with Primary Care, including GPs, opticians, dentists, and integrated neighbourhood teams, through the Age and Dementia Friendly programme.
  6. Ensure effective signposting after referral to the Memory Assessment Service and after diagnosis.

Agreed actions: Social care

  1. Develop and promote clear, accessible online and printed information to help older people, people living with dementia, and carers navigate Adult Social Care and understand support to live independently, including care options, costs, and eligibility.

Agreed actions: Housing

  1. Encourage all frontline staff to become dementia friends.
  2. Explore and promote accessible housing options that reflect the needs of an ageing population and incorporate age and dementia friendly design principles.
  3. Promote information to landlords and tenants around home adaptations and how to access them, especially those which reflect age and dementia friendly standards.
  4. Support consistent healthy ageing activities in community spaces in housing, and increase the links between seniors’ schemes and surrounding communities, so more people can benefit.
  5. Review our approach to older people’s housing and support needs, including the role of seniors housing and retirement housing.
  6. Support Brooke Mead to become a dementia centre of excellence, creating strong partnerships with other dementia services.
  7. Ensure that information and advice are disseminated to older people in a way that works for them and maximise support to help tackle digital inequality and exclusion.

4. Built environment and outdoor spaces

Aim

Older people and people living with dementia can access buildings and outdoor spaces that meet their needs.

Agreed actions

  1. Develop an age and dementia friendly design and placemaking framework for city planning and development, including housing, parking, toilets and public buildings and spaces.
  2. Make more public buildings, spaces and parks age and dementia friendly through accessibility audits of information, building access, pavements, parking, lifts and benches, within our resources.
  3. Improve online and printed information about parks, so residents can easily find what facilities are available and how to access and use them.
  4. Explore ways to improve the accessibility of all public toilets and ensure they are kept available for public use.
  5. Encourage businesses and organisations to sign up to the age and dementia friendly business 5-step pledge. 
  6. Improve the cleanliness and maintenance of public spaces and parks.
  7. Develop a community toilet scheme that adds local businesses to the Brighton & Hove City Council toilet map.

5. Transport

Aim

Older people and people living with dementia have access to a liveable city, where active transport is supported and access to transport that meets their needs.  

Agreed actions

  1. Engage with all transport providers to improve accessibility on buses and trains through measures such as awareness training and clearer signage.
  2. Promote active travel information, including accessible cycling and introducing accessible cycle parking design standards.
  3. Consider the findings from accessibility audits - such as issues with pavements, parking, and benches when developing age and dementia friendly policies
  4. Promote information on how to report concerns around pavements and roads.
  5. Explore options for improving connections to key destinations, recognising that any route or network changes sit with the bus operators.
  6. Work towards a better understanding of demand patterns in outer areas and explore opportunities for improving service levels where feasible, within the commercial framework of the bus network
  7. Review distances between certain bus stops.
  8. Consider crossing times, the need for additional crossings in underserved areas and improving visibility of the green light for pedestrians.
  9. Explore community transport solutions.

6. Carer support

Aim

Carers receive the right support.  

Agreed actions

  1. Promote available information, resources, activities and support for carers.
  2. Support carers by raising carer awareness and enabling staff to refer people to register with the Carers Hub.

7. Safety

Aim

Older people and people living with dementia are supported to feel safe.

Agreed actions

  1. Raise awareness of dementia amongst East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service frontline staff and encourage them to become dementia friends.
  2. Raise awareness of home safety visits and other preventative measures available to help reduce the risk of fires in the homes of older people and people living with dementia.
  3. Promote information and support available for older people, people living with dementia and their loved ones.
  4. Promote information on important safety schemes and protocols, such as the Safe Haven scheme and Herbert Protocol.

8. Positive ageing

Aim

Older people and people living with dementia are supported to age positively.

Agreed actions

  1. Increase understanding of ageing and accessibility by promoting age and dementia training and challenging ageism training.
  2. Support mutual respect between generations by promoting intergenerational activities and by developing and delivering an educational campaign and intergenerational programme.
  3. Promote opportunities for older people to take part in their community.