Latest dementia news from the Department of Health
- PM meets with dementia friendly communities champion group
24 May 2012, 2:11 pmPrime Minister David Cameron has met with the dementia friendly communities champion group in London. The group is one of three champion groups set up as part of the dementia challenge to explore how to deliver its key aims of creating dementia friendly communities, improving dementia research and improving health and care.
The meeting was co-chaired by Alzheimer’s Society ambassador Angela Rippon and Jeremy Hughes, Alzheimer’s Society Chief Executive. Members of the group include industry leaders, representatives from towns and cities, and people with dementia and their carers.
The dementia friendly communities champion group would like people to give their views on how to create dementia friendly communities on the dementia challenge website launched today.
The Prime Minister said:
‘Dementia is a terrible, heartbreaking disease – and tackling it is a personal priority of mine. Two months ago I promised that we’d lead an all-out, national fight-back against dementia – and it’s happening. We’re putting more money into research and more thought into dementia care.
‘This is a whole-society problem and it needs a whole-society response. That’s why we are connecting thousands of socially engaged young graduates from National Citizen Service with opportunities to make a difference with old people in their community.
‘We’re also encouraging more businesses to join this fight-back. I’m delighted to see the progress being made here. Already 20 big organisations like Lloyds Group, Tesco and E.ON have signed up to become more dementia friendly – and over the coming months I want to see many more follow suit.’
Angela Rippon said:
‘Over the past few weeks I have been meeting with a whole range of people and talking to them about how important it is that we face up to the dementia challenge. The response I have had has been incredible and it is truly inspirational to have so many major organisations working together to tackle this issue head on. Joint action like this is essential if dementia friendly communities are to become a reality.
‘There are 800,000 people living with dementia in the UK. This Dementia Awareness Week is the perfect time to remember the person behind the dementia diagnosis.’
Further programmes announced today include:
- £800,000 funding from the Social Action Fund for Circle, a new service transforming the provision of older people’s services.
- An e-learning package to train health and social care staff in recognising, assessing and managing dementia and how to provide high quality dementia care. The content is divided for those who need to be dementia ‘aware’ (all staff), those who need to be dementia ‘trained’ and those who need to be dementia ‘expert’. The package will be available free online within weeks from the Department of Health and the first module, on general dementia awareness, is relevant to anyone working in a public environment, such as shops, transport and banks.
- PM’s challenge on dementia – driving improvements in health and care
2 May 2012, 4:25 pmIn this video blog Professor Alistair Burns, National Clinical Director for Dementia talks about the five areas thought to be particularly important in driving improvements in the health and care of people with dementia.
- Guidance on new national CQUIN goals
1 May 2012, 9:59 amThe Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) payment framework enables commissioners to reward excellence by linking a proportion of providers’ income to the achievement of local quality improvement goals.
The framework aims to embed quality within commissioner-provider discussions and to create a culture of continuous quality improvement, with stretching goals agreed in contracts on an annual basis.
Two new national CQUIN goals have been introduced for use in 2012-13.
Dementia Goal
An estimated 25% of acute beds are occupied by people with dementia. Their length of stay is longer than other people and they are often subject to delays on leaving hospital.
This particular goal is to help identify patients with dementia and other causes of cognitive impairment, alongside their other medical conditions and to prompt appropriate referral and follow up after they leave hospital.
NHS Safety Thermometer Goal
Pressure ulcers have been identified by the Chief Nursing Officer and NHS Medical Director as a key quality issue for the NHS. This is an area in which more systematic and robust data is needed in order to help drive improvements in care.
Whilst some 10-12% of all patients suffer from pressure ulcers, a substantial proportion of these can be avoided. More older people and more vulnerable patients suffer from pressure ulcers in community settings. The gap between the best and worst performers is substantial. Simple inexpensive nursing interventions can dramatically reduce prevalence.
The goal of the NHS Safety Thermometer CQUIN is to increase the measurement of harm from pressure ulcers, falls, urinary tract infections in patients with catheters and VTE by using this device.
- Design Council dementia challenge launch
26 April 2012, 9:06 amFollow @designcouncil and @DCchallenges now for live tweets of their Dementia Challenge Launch. Five ground-breaking designs, including a dementia support dog, a room fragrance system to stimulate people’s appetites and a wristband personal alarm, are being showcased to help people live well with dementia. The designs have been developed through a national competition, run in partnership with the Department of Health.
- Alistair Burns talking about the Prime Minister’s challenge on dementia
11 April 2012, 9:38 amIn this video blog Alistair Burns, National Clinical Director for Dementia talks about the Prime Minister’s dementia challenge.
- Gransnet hosts Alistair Burns for a webchat on dementia
2 April 2012, 8:00 amProfessor Alistair Burns, National Clinical Director for Dementia is joining Gransnet for a live webchat on Monday 2 April, 2-3pm to discuss dementia.
How do you respond when someone gets a diagnosis? What can you expect? What steps can you take to cope?
- NHS innovation for dementia
30 March 2012, 3:04 pm
In this video blog Alistair Burns, National Clinical Director for Dementia talks about innovation in the NHS, and the potential to help people who suffer from dementia. - Prime Minister’s challenge on dementia
29 March 2012, 10:40 amIn a video blog, David Behan, Director General for Social Care and Care Partnerships talks about the Prime Minister’s challenge on dementia to society , and about how we respond to people that have dementia to support them to live the lives they want to live.
- Join David Behan for a webchat on dementia
28 March 2012, 3:28 pmFollowing the announcement on the Prime Minister’s challenge on dementia, David will co-host a webchat with George McNamara from the Alzheimer’s Society this Friday 30 March at 12pm. Register a reminder here.
- Prime Minister’s challenge on dementia
26 March 2012, 11:00 amThe Prime Minister has launched a programme of work which aims to deliver major improvements in dementia care and research by 2015.
The Prime Minister’s challenge on dementia builds on the achievements of the existing National Dementia Strategy.
Dementia affects us all:
- in England today there are an estimated 670,000 people living with dementia. This is expected to double in the next 30 years
- only 40% of people with dementia receive a formal diagnosis
- dementia usually occurs in people who are 65 or over and it is slightly more common in women than in men.
- according to the Alzheimer’s Society, two-thirds of all people with dementia are cared for in the community.
The Prime Minister has set out his dementia challenge to society, the medical profession, business and Government, alongside the Alzheimer’s Society publishing their report Dementia 2012: A national challenge.
The government will focus on improving the areas that matter most for dementia:
- awareness
- quality care
- research
Dealing with dementia
According to the Alzheimer’s Society’s report, three-quarters of people in the UK feel that society is not geared up to deal with dementia. It also found that three in five (61 per cent) people diagnosed with dementia are left feeling lonely, four in five (77 per cent) feel anxious or depressed and nearly half (44 per cent) have lost friends.
England is one of the first countries in the world to have a National Dementia Strategy.
The Alzheimer’s Society will be leading the work on dementia awareness and communities and has been working closely with the Prime Minister and Department of Health.
The Alzheimer’s Society, in partnership with Government, is calling for a radical shift in the way society treats people with dementia to ensure people with dementia receive the support and respect they deserve.
Raising awareness
Today’s report from the Alzheimer’s Society said that nearly two-thirds of people with dementia did not feel part of their community and nearly half had lost friends. Seventy-one per cent of people with dementia said they would like their community to understand how to help them live well.
The Alzheimer’s Society will take the lead on raising awareness.
Research
The UK is a world leader for dementia research, but not enough is known about the disease and the level of public participation in dementia research remains low. The Government will continue to lead on dementia research.
Champion groups
Champion Groups will be co-chaired by two high profile champions who will bring together leaders from across health and social care, industry and broader society to support the programme of improvements. The co-chairs are:
- Jeremy Hughes, Chief Executive of the Alzheimer’s Society, and Angela Rippon, broadcaster, journalist and presenter (raising awareness and dementia-friendly communities);
- Sir Ian Carruthers, Chief Executive of South West Strategic Health Authority, and Sarah Pickup, Director of Health and Community Services at Hertfordshire County Council (improving health and care); and
- Sir Mark Walport, Director of the Wellcome Trust, and Professor Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer (research)
A series of infographics have been developed to raise awareness, and to help recognise the signs and symptoms of dementia.
Read the full press release
Read more about dementia (for health professionals)
Information on dementia for the public