TORY Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s claims that ‘we can truly be the generation that beats dementia’ is a smokescreen for promoting the big drug companies.
Furthermore, Hunt is keen to use dementia sufferers to promote home care as opposed to hospital care, and volunteers, friends and families as unpaid carers as opposed to paid NHS carers.
Writing in Friday’s Telegraph he suggests that ‘one in three people will get dementia, with some predicting it will affect 20 million people by 2020’.
At the moment 319,000 thousand people have been diagnosed by the NHS so far, but the Department of Health believes that 670,000 people could be suffering from the disease.
Indeed, under Jeremy Hunt, from 2012, GPs were instructed to ask all patients over 75 years of age whether they have memory loss in order to seek out and diagnose new patients with possible dementia.
Special memory clinics have been set up by the government to enable dementia to be detected early.
Many doctors are sceptical about the benefit for patients in actively seeking to label patients as having dementia, as there is no known cure.
The question remains then, when A&Es are full to bursting, hospital wards are short of beds and understaffed, and ambulance services and mental health care are being crashed through massive funding cuts, why Hunt is actively promoting dementia care as the governments’ first priority.
And this is the case. Hunt writes, ‘Which is why I am proud that the UK is leading the charge. In fact we are putting dementia at the centre of our presidency of the G8’!
He states, ‘It is a truly horrible disease. With early diagnosis and proper help for families we can help people live healthily and happily at home for much longer.
‘We can also make our NHS much more sustainable, reducing the costs of avoidable, and often distressing hospital care as well as the need for social care.’
So, in a nutshell; no hospital care, the patient will stay at home with the relatives caring and this will be very cost-effective.
But volunteers and friends and neighbours will help out!
‘Working with the Alzheimer’s Society, we want to galvanise friends, neighbours, NHS workers, social care workers, businesses and charities to help us recruit a million Dementia Friends by March 2015.’
So what lies behind the fanfare? According to the National Audit Office in 2010, £8.2bn was spent on dementia care every year.
The big drug companies claim to be developing new drugs for the treatment of early dementia, about which Hunt is known to be very enthusiastic.
Many patients’ relatives find it almost impossible to get funding from NHS Continuing care to help look after their relatives.
One can only speculate that the big drug companies will be rubbing their hands as more and more patients are labelled as having early dementia and a large share of the £8bn NHS funds is diverted in their direction.
• Meanwhile the RCN and Carers Trust have developed a ‘Triangle of Care’ to improve dementia care.
In a statement they said: ‘The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and Carers Trust have published a new guide to improve the care of people with dementia by ensuring the support and involvement of their carers.
‘Funded by the RCN Foundation, the Triangle of Care is made up of six key standards which aim to improve collaboration between carers and health care workers, and are essential for improving care for people with dementia.’
Dr Peter Carter, Chief Executive & General Secretary of the RCN, highlighted the importance of involving carers, saying: ‘Carers have a lot to offer health care staff, as they are often the ones who know the person best.
‘No one is better placed to advise on a person’s needs and how their dementia affects them than a carer who has known them for years.’
Thea Stein, Chief Executive of Carers Trust added: ‘Our own research has shown that carers of people with dementia often do not get the support that they need. The Triangle of Care helps identify these carers.’
Their statement continues: ‘This new version of the Triangle of Care builds on the existing Carers Trust Triangle of Care which is being used successfully in mental health care settings.
‘The six key standards to help achieve a “triangle of care” between a person with dementia, carer and staff are:
‘ 1. Carers and their essential role are identified as soon as possible
2. Staff are carer-aware and trained to engage with and understand carers’ needs
3. Policy and practice regarding confidentiality and sharing information are in place
4. Defined posts responsible for carers are in place
5. A carer introduction to the service and staff is available
6. A range of carer support services are available.’
Dr Carter continued: ‘Carers and staff are working towards the same goal and it is better for everyone if they can work together to achieve this.’
• The GMB union, that represents ambulance staff, has reacted with anger to a shocking report that has found that 30 ambulances and seven rapid response units are missing.
GMB says that this report will ‘put fear in the hearts of services users’.
GMB said: ‘GMB members working for East of England Ambulance Services (EEAS) have been highlighting the need to increase the number of vehicles but even they did not expect this immense gulf.’
Their statement continued: ‘GMB reacted today to the East of England “Clinical capacity review – what’s the outcome?” which reveals a vast gulf between demand and ambulance service capacity in the service.
‘One conclusion from the report is that once we optimise our efficiency with current resources, there is still a substantial shortfall between the resources available and the resources required.
‘This is equivalent to more than 30 ambulances and seven rapid response vehicles (RRV), although it will be higher still at daily peaks in demand.
‘It is estimated that the additional resources required will cost in the region of £25-30 million per year.
‘In terms of vehicle hours per week, this means a required increase of 5,250 ambulance hours and 1,204 RRV hours over the next three financial years.’
Tony Hughes, GMB Organiser said: ‘The scale of the deficit between what the residents of the East of England need and the existing ambulance services provision is truly shocking and will put fear in the hearts of services users.
‘GMB members working for EEAS and trying to bridge the obvious gap have been highlighting the need to increase the number of vehicles but even they did not expect this immense gulf.’
