Experts have described dementia as the biggest health crisis of our time as 1 in 8 people now die from the disease. For women the rate was significantly higher causing 16.7 deaths per 1,000. In people aged over 80 it is 23.6 per 1,000. Celebrity Barbara Windsor who suffers from the disease backing the Alzheimers Society request for £2.4 million of funding. It is believed one person every 3 minutes gets diagnosed and many of these people will face the future without adequate support.
Independent Living Owner (Mark Booker) commented “we now have an ageing population and it is inevitable that diseases and issues relating to older people will rapidly increase. On the positive side we are now recognising the situation but at the present time we are not finding solutions to support these people and their families, and we are certainly not investing enough in areas such as social care to help them. A major stumbling block is no one can decide the best way to pay for these. However, older people will need care in increasing numbers, whether this is in their own home, extra care housing, a care home or a medical facility”.
