The head of the NHS Dementia strategy has warned the organisation cannot keep up as cases surge. Around 454,000 people aged over 65 in England have had a formal diagnosis, and this represents a 7% increase over 3 years. This is due to an ageing population and their is no cure. However, if cases are spotted early people can be better supported. Alzheimers Research UK sates the disease costs £26 billion a year. However, many cases remain undiagnosed and this could be as high as 220,000 additional people. Within a decade one in five people will be aged over 65 and inevitably this will cause dementia cases to rise. The high levels of dementia will cause the biggest crisis in social care in our time according to Jeremy Hughes the Chief Executive of the Alzhiemers Society.
At present a cure remains elusive with many test drugs failing their clinical trials. The best defence at present is simply to have a good diet, no smoking, sleeping well and exercising.
Mark Booker (Independent Living) commented “we care for a large number of older people in the Chorley, Leyland and Parbold area. We are often told our customers are a bit forgetful, or that they have dementia but haven’t had a formal memory test. So clearly whilst the headline dementia figures demonstrate the problem behind these figures are a much higher number of people who need care. Dementia is hard for the home care industry because whilst people can live at home without problems at some point the may deteriorate and making a decision as to whether they are, or are not safe at home is very difficult”.
