LONDON (Commonwealth Union) – Dementia usually brings about difficulty in memory and finding words, sudden personality along with mood changes among others. The UK has some of the highest dementia rates in the world and a new review has demonstrated that inefficient co-ordination of services and fragmented care plans in England has brought about hardly any improvements for dementia care givers in the last 4 decades.
The findings also indicate the continuous focus on ‘cure over care’ in dementia strategy has rendered policy recommendations restricted when it comes to refinements in local communities.
The study from Dr Martina Zimmermann, Fellow and Lecturer in Health Humanities and Health Sciences together with UKRI Future Leaders and Tony Britton, Founder Trustee of the Pam Britton Trust for Dementia, demonstrate that the encounters for dementia care givers have been hindered due to policy and frustrations in practice.
The study, which evaluated literary writings, policy documentation and social research, demonstrated the inefficient integration of services and disconnected care plans have resulted in little improvement for dementia care providers. Support for unofficial dementia care at local communities is not working for the majority of care givers presently which points to a lack of an empowered named support for care givers and an effective action care plan, supported up by sufficient resources.
Dr Zimmermann said: “At a macro-level, a deep culture shift is needed, one that sees the need for care as much as cure. Consequently, this would create a commitment to share finances more evenly between transformation of care and research into cure.” The researchers have suggested a coordination between health and social care and adequate information on obtainable care support services which should be made available via an empowered named contact.
With dementia being a significant problem in England and many other parts of the world it is clear that better dementia care and research into effective treatments will be needed.
