Care shake-up as city prepares for massive growth in dementia

A MILLION-pound shake-up is on the cards for dementia services in Hull, benefiting nearly 3,000 present and future sufferers and their families.

Nationally, dementia is estimated to cost the UK economy 17bn a year. In the next 30 years, the number afflicted is forecast to double to 1.4m, trebling the costs to 50bn a year.

As part of a new National Dementia Strategy, the Government is providing 150m, to be shared among 152 primary care trusts.

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In Hull, it will pay for the biggest improvements to deal with the illness since those set out in an Audit Commission report in 2000.

A report by Hull's independent health watchdog Hull LINk (Local Involvement Network) will be the guiding light of the improvements.

The NHS has now agreed to the use of recommendations from the LINk report, called Living Well with Dementia – Shaping the Service, in its local dementia strategy, ensuring sufferers and carers have a higher quality of life.

Historically, because Hull has had an average lower life expectancy than many other cities, it has fewer sufferers. But the national trend is for people to live longer, making them more prone to the condition.

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Of the 36,400 people in Hull who will be over 65 this year, it is forecast 2,554 will have dementia, rising to 2,679 by 2015 and 2,949 by 2020.

LINk Team Leader Jonathan Appleton said: "It is essential that people with dementia, their carers and families receive the best standard of care available.

"We're delighted that the report has had such a positive response and hope that local people will enjoy the benefits of better services."

Hull LINk worked with local voluntary and community organisations, such as Age Concern and the North Bank Forum, to review dementia services.

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The report calls for more training for health professionals and recommends information be made available in public places about dementia. It also calls for local support and for closer working and consultation between the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector.

Mr Appleton said: "People told us training among staff and volunteers working with old people needed to be improved to deliver more personalised care for people with the condition, and there needed to be more public awareness

"There was also a feeling that the older people and their carers who use the services often do not have much of a say what happens to them when they become ill.

"They were being told what services they were entitled to and left to live with it."

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"Generally, it is felt dementia has been off the radar. People living with it are often isolated. It is one of those hidden illnesses where people retreat into their own lives," Mr Appleton continued.

"Society tends to forget them. But there is a feeling now things have to change and people have had a raw deal for too long.

"One thing which is quite exciting is a new system of dementia advisers."

These named personal advisers would be appointed when relatives were just getting concerned about loved ones losing their memory, or who have just been diagnosed with the illness.

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Their role will be to help families with practical difficulties, such as access to benefits and support schemes, as well as advising on matters such as medical treatment.

"People tend to think there is nothing they can do because it is not a curable disease.

"But people are encouraged to make diaries about the stuff they enjoy – food or activities – so carers can take account of likes and dislikes," he added.