A Scots campaigner who is helping to improve support for people with dementia and their carers is one of the first to win a prestigious new honour

A Scots campaigner who is dedicated to raising awareness of the difficulties of living with and caring for someone with dementia has received a prestigious British Citizens Award.

Tommy Whitelaw, who cared for his mum Joan for five years when she had dementia, picked up the award for services to healthcare in London recently.

The British Citizens Award is a new recognition similar to the honours system but created to give credit to people who make a difference in their communities,.

Whitelaw, who began a blog about his experiences of caring and encouraged other carers to tell him their stories, was nominated for the award in recognition of the impact he has had on professional attitudes to dementia.

“I’m really proud,” he told TFN. “I’ve come from caring for my mum and campaigning in my bedroom, and it’s lovely that people have taken time to nominate me.”

In 2008, a three month career break turned into a five-year stint as a full-time carer for Whitelaw, whose heart-wrenching revelations have often shocked care professionals.

“When I came back to Glasgow three months turned into six months, then nine months and then a year,” he said. “And then the loneliness kicked in that became a big part of our lives, both of our lives.

“People who’d used to visit my mum didn’t so often and trying to get a diagnosis was hard. After the third year, we were in absolute crisis point and that’s when the campaign really started.

“I went to get help one day and was told because I hadn’t made an appointment that I should come back another day. I walked out in disbelief about the lack of understanding.”

From that point Tommy (pictured below with his mum, who passed away in 2012) began to blog and a year later, he did the Tommy on Tour walk for a week, which saw him visiting communities around Scotland talking about caring and meeting other carers and their families.

Dr Joyce Cavaye, senior lecturer at the faculty of health and social care at the Open University, nominated Tommy for the award.

She explained: “I met Tommy as a result of my research with former carers and was immediately impressed by his commitment to improve the care and support provided to people with dementia and their carers.

“He is an inspirational speaker who motivates others to do the best they can by sharing his heartfelt story of caring for his mum. Through sheer hard work and dogged determination he has succeeded in making a difference not just in Scotland but increasingly across the UK.

“What is astounding about this is that Tommy has achieved a huge amount in a relatively short period of time and has certainly influenced practice quicker and to a greater extent than managers, researchers and policymakers.”

Tommy is now the project engagement lead for Dementia Carer Voices at the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland.

The project provides a platform for carers to express their views and experiences with the aim of changing policy and practice.

In pursuance of this, Dementia Carer Voices embarked on a campaign entitled You Can Make a Difference, which has seen Tommy give over 180 talks to health and social care professionals, students, and policy makers about his experience.

The campaign asks people to reflect on Tommy’s journey and the experiences of those who have shared their story with the project and to make a pledge to make a difference.

“What I think I’ve achieved is I’ve tried to make people think about the impacts of their decisions on other people,” said Tommy.

“We’re going out across all the hospitals and health boards, colleges and universities and working on pledges. We’ve now got 3,000 pledges hanging up in wards and staff canteens and a commitment from staff to make an effort to make people’s lives better.”

Derek Barron, associate nurse director at NHS Ayrshire and Arran, said: “I was privileged to second Tommy’s nomination for this award. Throughout 2014 especially, Tommy worked tirelessly across the UK to share the "make a difference" message in the compassionate care of people with dementia and those that care for them.

“We were honoured to share the journey with him in NHS Ayrshire & Arran where he held ten talks to over 500 of our staff. This award is very richly deserved – my personal congratulation to him.”

Find out more about Dementia Carer Voices