Depictions of dementia that reflect the full breadth of possible symptoms are hugely welcome and urgently needed, particularly given the latest figures that forecast more than 150 million cases of the condition worldwide by 2050.
Those whose lives have not been affected, directly or indirectly, by dementia are rapidly dwindling in numbers. Yet there persists this perception of the condition as little more than a “memory loss disease”.
Indeed, Social-Ability’s latest World Alzheimer’s Month survey found that nearly two thirds of people were unable to distinguish early symptoms of dementia from natural signs of ageing. This knowledge gap risks delaying the early diagnosis that is the critical first step in truly effective treatment and care.
We urgently need to improve understanding of dementia and the different ways that it can affect people’s lives. And we need to do it now before our dementia care system is pushed to breaking point.
In addition, increasing fees for people living in care homes would be a disaster for the UK care system, particularly when we have the technology to save it considerable amounts of money.
Overreliance on medicating care home residents has long been one of the system’s biggest expenses, costing an estimated £250m annually despite the mixed impact of anti-psychotic medications on people living with conditions such as dementia. These individuals must not be made to foot the bill for these failings.
Investing this money in tech, from AI-powered diagnostics to innovative therapeutic interventions designed to stimulate social and cognitive activity, will deliver much more positive outcomes for care home residents’ health and wellbeing in the long term, including hitherto overworked care workers.
With financial and operational pressures pushing it to breaking point, the care system must seize the opportunity to innovate rather than allowing costs to skyrocket further.
By John Ramsay, Founder and Managing Director of Social-Ability
