Government Campaign – Look for Early Dementia Signs

Published 08 November 2011.

The Government has launched a campaign aimed at increasing awareness of the early signs and symptoms of dementia, and encouraging people to seek early diagnosis of the condition.

There are over 750,000 people living with dementia in the UK today and by 2025 there are expected to be over 1 million. Dementia is an incurable condition caused by diseases of the brain which over time seriously impairs the ability of someone to live independently. Although public awareness of dementia is now high, understanding of it remains very poor and few people appreciate what help is available to live well with dementia.

Early diagnosis of dementia can help people and families obtain the right treatment and support. Although a cure does not exist, a timely diagnosis and advanced planning can help people with the condition continue to live a high quality of life whilst retaining as much independence as possible.

The campaign launched by the Government includes a television advertisement and a leaflet, and is aimed at coinciding with the Christmas period when families often become aware of the fact that a relative has memory problems. During January 2011 for example, the Alzheimer’s Society Helpline received 43% more calls than in December 2010.

As mapped out by the NHS in their campaign leaflet, early signs of dementia may include:

• Struggling to remember recent events, but easily recalling things that happened in the past
• Struggling to follow conversations or programmes on television
• Forgetting the names of friends or everyday objects
• Repeating things or losing the thread of what’s being said
• Having problems thinking or reasoning
• Feeling anxious, depressed or angry about memory loss
• Feeling confused even when in a familiar environment

In responding to the increasing prevalence of dementia across the community, it will be vital that support from trained, experienced home care staff is available from organisations such as Carefound. So as to ensure that this is the case, all members of Carefound’s professional home care team undergo training in helping elderly people with dementia. Carefound is also in strong support of the activities of the Alzheimer’s Society in North Yorkshire and is helping sponsor an event – ‘Making Our Community Dementia Friendly’ – in conjunction with this group in Harrogate during November 2011.

Carefound is a provider of high quality home care services to elderly people in North Yorkshire, enabling clients to continue to live independently in the comfort of their own home whilst maintaining the highest quality of life achievable. The services provided by Carefound include basic help in the home, companionship and personal care, and its home care team is trained in specialist conditions such as dementia. The flexible service ranges from 1 hour to 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, including bank holidays, and can also encompass 24-hour Live-In Care services. Situated in the Harrogate area of North Yorkshire, Carefound offers a truly unique elderly care service with the individual firmly at its heart and is able to provide services to clients in surrounding towns and villages including (but not limited to) Harrogate, Wetherby, Knaresborough, Boroughbridge, Ripon and Thirsk.

For more information about Carefound telephone 01423 774070 or visit their website atwww.carefound.co.uk.

Source: Carefound, Department of Health, NHS, Alzheimer’s Society.