The purpose of this essay is to look at dementia in details and get a clear understanding of the level at which this condition affects the society and how it raises public health concern. According to the NHS Choices (2010), Dementia is said to be a condition that carries a group of related symptoms, associated with an ongoing decline in the performance of the brain and its abilities. This condition affects the individual’s memory, thinking, language, and understanding together with judgment abilities. Therefore this essay will be analysing concerns, targets and health promotion initiatives by the government regarding dementia.
Dementia is a condition that raises public health concerns and the government is working hard to ensure that this condition is addressed with all available resources. According to the Department of Health (2011), dementia is one of the most important issues that United Kingdom is facing as the population ages. In England alone according to the NHS Choices (2011), dementia is said to be a common condition, where 570, 000 people are living with it and in the UK today according to the Department of Health (2011), it is estimated that over 750, 000 people suffer from dementia.
These figures are very worrying to the government and the numbers are expected to double in the next thirty years. Dementia is said to be more common in women than in men. NHS Choices (2011) state that the condition usually occurs in older people although there is a significant number of about 15,000 people under the age of 65 in the UK that develop this condition earlier in life as suggested by the Department of Health (2011) under the National Dementia Strategy. According to the report from a research published by the Alzheimer's Society (2011), it is states that dementia costs the UK ?
17 billion a year, 11,500 people with dementia in 2007 were from the black and minority ethnic group. It is suggested that the proportion of people with dementia doubles for every 5 year age group, with those over 95 years taking up one third. Research shows that 60,000 deaths a year are attributed to dementia and that carers save the government ? 6 billion a year. According to Dementia UK (2011) there are different types of dementia of which Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, Fronto temporal dementia and Dementia with Lewy bodies are the most common types.
Dementia is said to have no gender barriers meaning that it affect both men and women. Dementia UK (2011) suggests that the number of people in the UK with dementia goes to about 820,000 with those that have the condition without being diagnosed. Dementia UK (2011) continues to suggest that younger people can be affected by dementia, although the possibility of this fact is mostly over looked by families, professions and even the persons themselves. Out of all the types of dementia, Alzheimer's disease is the most commonly diagnosed affecting around 417,000 people according to Dementia UK (2011).
This type of dementia is said to progress gradually getting worse as time goes on. The common indicators for this condition are forgetfulness of recent events, reputation, confusing things and getting lost. Over years dementia has become a main concern for the government after figures showing a high number of people affected by this condition and the accelerated increase in these figures. Due to a combination of reasons, the government has introduced and been part of initiatives addressing this area of concern.
According to Directgov (2011), the government has set plans to improve and transform the care for people with dementia. The government plans to do this through appointment of advisers, better training for GPs, and the establishment of memory services staffed by specialists to provide early diagnosis and treatment. The government has also set up initiatives through the National Dementia strategy, a program by the Department of health to give more support to people with dementia. Through this, they are aiming at transforming dementia services and achieving a greater awareness of dementia.
The government is also focusing on raising the quality of care for people with dementia and giving as much support as they can to the carers according to the Department of Health (2011). By doing this, the pace of improvement in dementia care will be accelerated. The Department of health also published an implementation plan which they called Good Practice Compendium - Living well with dementia (2011). With this initiative the government aims at providing centres that will act as a hub of services to older people with chronic ill health and long term illness such as dementia that require intensive care.
It is also the government’s plan to support carers by offering respite care, information and advice in local settings. The government believes that under these arrangements, they will be able to help older people mostly those with dementia to regain their lost skills and abilities, which will enable them to maximise their potential and be able to live in their own homes. This is done as a way of promoting dignity and independency. They also want to promote and sustain inclusion and wellbeing.
As part of the government’s living with dementia program, the NHS West Kent Dementia Crisis Support services provide a 24 hours care service. This aims at providing a safe environment for individuals while carers are resting and also enables individuals to remain in their own homes and receive appropriate support. This is a useful way of treating people who get acute episodes that in themselves do not need hospitalisation so they can get all the treatment at home. This is also set to prevent the breakdown of care packages that would have led to hospitalisation.
They provide home based emergency care for a short term service in order to support people with dementia through times of crisis whether they have carers or not. This support allows time to the individuals to make alternative arrangements during emergencies. According to report by the Good Practice Compendium - Living well with dementia (2011), evidence has shown that in a short period of operation by this program, 34 people with dementia were assisted since April 2010 of which 19 received the service because their carers were either physically or emotionally unwell to provide the required service.
As part of the government’s plan to address the threat of dementia, the Department of Health introduced a risk guide for people with dementia which they called Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained (2010). This was to be a call to everyone involved in caring for people with dementia in taking a proportionate, measured and enabling approach to the risks. The government believes that over cautious approaches to risks is one of the biggest barriers that make people with dementia unable to have more control over their lives.
This guide is for people with dementia, cares and practitioners, but mostly for helping the readers to take decisions about risks that people with dementia face so that they can carry on living their lives. This guide is a very useful tool to carers and those that work with people that have dementia. It provides them with the knowledge they need in making the decisions that are needed to improve the lives of those with dementia. According to Choosing Health (2004) the government made it their priority to improve the funding of the NHS in order to move on to becoming a true health service and not just a sickness service.
In the government plan of improving health which they named “making health choices easier”, they set up arrangements which would enable people with long term conditions make the best of their lives. This would help them manage their conditions themselves and also maintain reasonable general health with the support of others. Choosing Health (2004) under the title improving health for adults with social care needs, they high light the government’s concerns to this group of people. They say that by giving health advice to people with chronic conditions will improve their fitness and overall quality of life.
To evaluate initiatives on dementia the government in documents by the department of health (2011), reports like the green paper and white paper show how the government aims at dealing with issues associated with the elderly, younger people and those with mental illnesses, all the plans set are far from happening due to the major cuts by the government caused by the deep recession. In conclusion, dementia remains a threat to people’s lives and the numbers of people with dementia is increasing rapidly.
The condition affects the young and the old and has no gender barrier. It carries multiple symptoms that lead to the decline in the performance of the brain and its abilities of the affected individual. The government has taken steps to address the raising threat of dementia through a number of programs, of which if well funded will help to improve the lives of those that are affected by this condition to give them a more better life. The government still has a long way to go to achieve their plans with the challenges ahead of them.
