Dr Wendy Baxter scholarship launched by UWS to improve dementia care

She was awarded an MBE for her pioneering work in palliative care for cancer patients, serving as medical director of the Accord Hospice in Paisley.

Her first-hand, experience of dementia, strengthened her resolve that the same standards should be applied in the disease that had claimed both her parent's lives.

The University of the West of Scotland (UWS) is offering a PHD scholarship, funded by the family, which aims to address gaps in support for families, particularly as the illness advances.

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Her husband Ronald recalled how a care home receptionist told him that families would often  ‘leave and not come back’ after relatives were admitted because they were struggling to cope.

Dr Baxter died on June 11, last year, at the age of 76, as the country was emerging from the first wave of the pandemic. Her family including daughter Caroline and son Derek paid tribute to the "gentle, soft spoken, caring lady" who had five grand-children.

“I have a very vivid memory of just saying happy birthday or happy anniversary to her, got home here and the care home was shut down, “ said her husband, a retired heart specialist, who lives in Newton Mearns.

“I didn’t see her for two or three months until she took ill but I was with her for the last two weeks.

“Wendy was a palliative care doctor but her father developed dementia and it triggered her to stop so that she could look after him.

“The interesting thing was that he got worse and had to be admitted to one of the care homes in Paisley. Wendy found herself trying to teach them everything she knew about medicine and drugs.

“She went back to the hospice to teach palliative care in dementia and she gave a personal account of the failings of it - that was ten years ago. There were a lot of simple things that staff didn’t really recognise.

“My experience of it (dementia) as a spouse and as a doctor - there wasn’t really much information out there and I felt quite out at sea really.

“Or perhaps I was reluctant to access the information but we felt that there is a lot of work that can be done in dementia care but not just in care homes. It’s about recognising the day-to-day issues.

“Wendy had to be transferred from a psychiatric unit where she had been admitted with psychotic symptoms. It was decided that she would be placed in a care home and that was an upsetting transfer.

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“I have a very vivid member of going to see her and she didn’t understand what was going on and it was really quite upsetting and I always remember the receptionist saying to me, ‘oh well, you know, a lot of people just can’t cope with this and they just leave them here and don’t come back.’  

“But a lot of families had things like that, they just didn’t enough time to talk to people."

He added: “Latterly Wendy took up art and I found it very difficult to actually access somewhere, where I could take her. I got no help from the care home but I found something called the Little Art Trust in Ayr and that is something that people really retain with dementia and should be provided.”

His wife of 47 years was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2017. Her father had been diagnosed with the same type a few years after he nursed his wife through Alzheimer’s Disease until she died.

The family is hugely supportive of Alzheimer Scotland’s campaign for free, end of life care for people with advanced dementia, which is backed by The Herald.

The SNP has pledged to double free personal and care contributions if it is re-elected to government but the other main parties, do not believe this goes far enough.

“Even, when I was working as a doctor and I’ve been retired for about 15 years plus - even at that time we were all debating as medics, why is dementia not being treated as a health problem because it is. It is a disease but it wasn’t.”

READ MORE: 'Entirely predictable': Concern care home providers are failing to pass on savings 

His daughter Caroline, who is a respiratory specialist, added: “Financially, I’ve always thought it was terrible, that you don’t get the same financial support for that disease and that disease often allows you to require care for a lot longer than other conditions.

“The financial basis of working out how much you should pay for yourself based on how much money you have, goes against everything I believe.”

She said her mother’s passion for her work was matched by a love of fast cars and designer shoes.

“She was always immaculately dressed. It wouldn’t matter what day, what time. Hair done, make-up done and that was her."

She said of the scholarship:  “What’s important is that it’s a translational research project that can show true benefits. I think that’s what mum was truly interested in - how you could change practice.”

Professor Debbie Tolson, Director of the Alzheimer Scotland Centre for Policy and Practice at UWS, said: “Everyone at the Centre, UWS and at Alzheimer Scotland are incredibly grateful to Wendy’s family for this generous donation, which will ensure her legacy lives on through practice-changing research, to be undertaken by our chosen PhD scholar. 

“The research to be undertaken by our PhD scholar will explore and develop positive practices to support families and care home residents to spend quality time together. 

"It really will change the lives of others, while at the same time, pay tribute to Wendy and her pioneering and compassionate palliative care ethos.”

For more information about the scholarship go to //www.uws.ac.uk/research/research-institutes-centres-groups/alzheimer-scotland-centre-for-policy-and-practice/