UK Government Plans Memory Clinics In Every Town

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Main Category: Alzheimer's / Dementia
Also Included In: Caregivers / Homecare
Article Date: 02 Feb 2009 - 10:00 PDT

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UK's secretary of state for health, Alan Johnson, said on BBC One's Andrew Marr show on Sunday that on Tuesday he is going to unveil a new government plan to raise the national profile of dementia to improve early diagnosis and quality of treatment and this would include a raft of new initiatives including the provision of "memory clinics" in every town and more support for carers.

The intention is to end the stigma that surrounds dementia: "it's a bit like cancer was 20 years ago," said Johnson. "It wasn't the subject of polite conversation". But unlike cancer, people still joke about dementia and Alzheimer's.

And it takes on average about three years for someone with the condition to receive a diagnosis. Johnson told Andrew Marr he wants people to seek diagnosis much earlier. There are drugs that can improve memory and other ways like changes to diet and lifestyle that can make a measurable difference if diagnosis is early enough.

There are about 700,000 people living with dementia in the UK, many of them without any support from the NHS or social services. Johnson said he wants the national strategy to transform their treatment and quality of life.

According to a report in the Telegraph, Phil Hope, the care services minister, said in December that over the coming decades, the number of people with dementia "is going to double, even treble".

Although Johnson conceded that the NHS needed "re-balancing" to overcome ageism against patients, he said he hoped the days when doctors and health professionals said a condition wasn't worth treating because the patient was too old are long gone.

Johnson is unveiling his plan for a national dementia strategy in the House of Commons on Tuesday. He told Andrew Marr there is money to see the plan through, and it will include more support for people looking after family members with dementia at home.

Johnson said that often it is the carers, the spouses and family members that experience the trauma of dementia, and they need help and support too, and "they need it very early" he said.

Sources: BBC, Telegraph.

Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD
Copyright: Medical News Today
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