Government "memory clinics" pledge to tackle dementia
managementinpractice.com
22nd December 2008
With dementia forecast to double or triple the current 700,000 cases over the next few years, every GP is to be trained to recognise the first symptoms of the condition.
The government is to set up "memory clinics" in every town to provide treatment and support for patients to live as normally as possible, care services minister Phil Hope has said.
As part of a national dementia strategy, scheduled to be launched next month, ministers hope the training and clinics may also save nearly £1bn.
He said: "We want to see every GP trained to recognise the symptoms of early dementia and patients referred to specialist services in every area where they would get a proper diagnosis.
"As well as national training for GPs, we'd like to see memory clinics in every town where people can go for treatment and support to help them live their life as normally as possible."
A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "The Department of Health will work with all relevant medical and nursing organisations to make sure that appropriate training is provided for medical students, and we will create opportunities for postgraduate education and training in dementia."
7,500
miss out on vital drugs
thisisderbyshire.co.uk
December 22, 2008
Thousands of dementia sufferers in Derbyshire are going without vital treatment because they have not been diagnosed. The Alzheimer's Society believes about 7,500 people in Derbyshire could have the condition without knowing it.
Drugs that are given to slow the onset of the disease are most effective when given in the early stages of the illness.
But dementia is hard to diagnose and health officials admit people could be missing out on treatments that could help.
Now they have drawn up a £4m plan to improve the situation, including the setting up of specialist clinics to help diagnosis, and GPs will be given refresher sessions about the early signs of dementia and greater access to specialist tests.
Jane Yeomans, Derbyshire County Primary Care Trust's assistant head of adult and older people's services, urged people who believe they have dementia to visit their GP. She said: "Traditionally it's not something people want to have a diagnosis of, but if they do then they can get treatment and advice to help them come to terms with it.
"There are different types of dementia and drugs aren't effective in all cases but drugs can be used to slow down certain forms of the illness.
"But if those drugs are given too late in the development of dementia, they are not effective."
The Alzheimer's Society and health bosses in Derbyshire agree that a number of factors are to blame for the low diagnosis rate. These include the difficulty of recognising and diagnosing the illness, an unwillingness among patients to be tested because of the stigma surrounding the illness and a shortage of specialist testing services.
Vivien Walters cares for her husband, Alan, 65, who has dementia and she said that, whatever the reason for the low diagnosis rate, it was vital people got treatment. The 49-year-old said: "Drugs lifted Alan so that he was much calmer and he could communicate better. "I know he was struggling with what he was saying before he was given drugs, and without them I'm sure that, communication-wise, he would have been a lot worse."
Both the county trust and NHS Derby City have made tackling dementia a priority, with plans to spend £4m between them during the next three years. They are developing an action plan to decide where exactly the money should be spent and aim to have identified their priorities early in the new year.
Ideas include taking mobile clinics to isolated rural areas, campaigns about the risk of developing dementia through binge-drinking and lack of exercise, and employing advisers to support dementia sufferers.
Dr Alan Meakin, medical director at the county trust, said one of the key expenses would be clinics which use a number of tests to diagnose dementia.
The county has five memory assessment clinics, where people can be sent by their GP for diagnosis, and is deciding how many more it needs in order to provide county-wide access.
Dr Meakin said: "Traditionally, GPs make a diagnosis of dementia, but in the past few years the clinics have been introduced, which help to give a more scientific and objective diagnosis through testing. "They aren't available across the county at the moment but should be within the next 12 months. "Where they aren't available, GPs can make the diagnosis themselves or refer them to the mental health service for older people."
From April, the trust hopes to give GPs refresher sessions in diagnosing dementia during the monthly educational sessions which are held at practices.
Paul Dunnery, Alzheimer's Society area manager for the East Midlands, said retraining GPs should be a key focus of the trusts' work to tackle the illness. He said: "GPs have repeatedly recognised they have a lack of understanding of dementia. "The Alzheimer's Society hopes some of the funding can be allocated to increasing GPs awareness of dementia and to enable them to recognise and accurately diagnose the condition."
The Derbyshire trust has records of 3,339 people with dementia, while the Alzheimer's Society estimates there are 9,184 with the illness. That means just 36% are diagnosed. NHS Derby City has 1,061 people registered with the illness, compared to an estimate of 2,817.
The charity based its figures on the Expert Delphi Consensus, an estimation by 10 UK and European experts of the percentage of the population that has dementia. Using medical evidence, the team estimated that 1.3% of people aged 65 to 69 have dementia, a figure which rises to 28% among 90-to-96-year-olds.
A spokeswoman for the city trust said improving mental health services have been identified as a key priority within its five-year strategic plan and it was working closely with the Alzheimer's Society, GPs, service users, carers and other organisations.
Telegraph
View: Government's dementia strategy is vague
A cure for Alzheimer’s should be as high a priority as a cure for cancer.
Telegraph View 22 Dec 2008
A cure for Alzheimer’s should be as high a priority as a cure for cancer.
Telegraph View 22 Dec 2008
A new case of dementia is diagnosed in England and Wales every three minutes or so. As longevity increases, so will the number afflicted by this illness. There are already 700,000 sufferers and that number will double, perhaps even treble, in the decades ahead. The burden this will place on the NHS and therefore the taxpayer will be immense.
The Government’s new strategy, announced this morning, is to give all GPs dementia training and to set up a memory clinic in every town.
On the face of it, such a move is to be welcomed but on closer inspection it begins to look like another of those eye-catching initiatives of which the Labour Government is so fond.
The commitment to memory clinics in every town is vague. There appears to be no suggestion of a nationwide clinic-building programme so perhaps what ministers have in mind is adapting existing provision. If that is the case, they should say so.
As for training GPs in diagnosing dementia, experts have today warned that it is extremely difficult to spot the early signs of Alzheimer’s in particular. Many cases are only ever confirmed by post-mortem.
And the Government’s claim to be taking the illness seriously is rather undermined by the fact that its record on dementia research is appalling.
It has cut funding for such research every year since 2000. To put this in context, for every person in this country with Alzheimer’s, £11 is spent each year on research. The comparative figure for cancer patients is £289 a year.
The children’s author Terry Pratchett, himself an Alzheimer’s sufferer, has donated $1 million to the Alzheimer’s Research Trust and campaigned energetically for more research funding.
This surely is the way the Government should be heading. A cure for Alzheimer’s should be as high a priority as a cure for cancer.
See also
Early Onset Dementia
Recognising symptoms of Alzheimer's
Facing up to dementia
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