Transcript www.chc.brookes.ac.uk

Welcome
• Karishma Chandaria, Senior policy
officer
• Martina Kane, Policy Advisor
Understanding
dementia:What every health
professional needs to know
Outline of talk
1. Living with dementia – a personal experience
(video)
2. What is dementia?
3. Dementia and government policy
4. What dementia means for health professionals
5. The symptoms of dementia with a focus on
unusual behaviour
6. Top tips for working with people with dementia.
Stan:A personal experience
(video)
What is dementia?
• ‘Dementia’ describes a collection of symptoms
resulting from damage to the brain
• Most common causes are Alzheimer’s disease,
vascular disease and Lewy bodies
• Serious progressive and degenerative condition
resulting in death
• Age a risk factor but NOT a normal part of
ageing
What is the impact of
dementia
•There are 800,000 people living with
dementia in the UK. This is projected
to rise to 1m by 2025.
•The total cost to the UK economy is
£23bn a year.
Rising numbers of people
800,000 people now, 800,000 families,
1 million by 2025
200000
0
180000
0
160000
0
140000
0
120000
0
100000
0
800000
100 & over
95-99
90-94
85-89
80-84
75-79
70-74
65-69
600000
400000
200000
0
2011
2021
2031
2041
2051
Background to Government policy
• Dementia has become a health
and social care priority
• The Government National
Dementia Strategy in 2009 with a
specific focus on workforce
• In 2010 it committed to reducing
the use of anti-psychotic drugs by
2/3
• Keeping people with dementia out
of hospital and supporting in their
own homes and community
PM Challenge on Dementia
• Prime Minister’s Challenge on Dementia aims to
drive improvements in health and care of people
with dementia and has three key commitments:
• Ensuring health and social care systems can
effectively deliver for people with dementia
• Improving research into cures and treatments for
dementia, with overall funding for research doubled
to £66 million by 2015
• Creating dementia-friendly communities that
understand how to help people with the disease
• You have key role in meeting the challenge
What dementia means for
healthcare professionals
•
• People with
dementia are a
core part of your
work
• People with dementia over 65 years of age
occupy ¼ of hospital beds
• 2 out of 3 care home residents have
dementia
• Two thirds of people with dementia live in the
community
• Nearly 1/3 of people over 85 dying with
cancer, circulatory or respiratory disease also
have dementia
• Two thirds do not receive a formal diagnosis.
‘Once you’ve met one
person with dementia…then
you’ve met one person with
dementia (carer)’.
Symptoms of dementia:Earlier
stages
•
•
•
•
•
Less able to make decisions
Less interested in hobbies or activities
Unwilling to try new things
Some memory loss
Mood changes
Symptoms of dementia:Later
stages
• Severe memory loss (confusion about time and
place)
• Severe communication problems (loss of
speech)
• Physical symptoms (loss of mobility)
• Unusual behaviour
Impact on brain
http://www.alz.org/braintour/healthy_vs_alzheimers.asp
________________________________________________________________________________________
alzheimers.org.uk
Video clip:
Darkness in the
Afternoon
Behaviour professionals
might see
• Repetitive behaviour: packing and repacking a
bag, asking to go home
• Restlessness: pacing, fidgeting
• Shouting and screaming: calling out for
someone, shouting the same word
• Lack of inhibition: insulting people, swearing,
breaking social conventions
• Hiding and losing things
Causes of behaviour
• Brain damage caused by dementia affects
a person’s ability to control or direct
behaviour
• All behaviour is a form of communication
that needs to be interpreted
• Severe communication problems can
make the behaviour more extreme
Unmet need - hunger, pain or boredom
• Pacing about can mean the person needs the
toilet
Surroundings - noisy or unfamiliar
• Calling out repeatedly for someone from their
past who was a comfort
Emotion - frustration, fear or depression
• Repeatedly asking to go ‘home’ when living in a
care home, a place they don’t recognise.
Top tips: Working with people with
dementia
• Communicate effectively eg use short
sentences, simple language, listen
• Work closely with your team members to
understand behaviour
• Get to know the individual
• Involve carers and family
• Help orientate the person to surroundings
YouTube - Gladys Wilson
and Naomi Feil
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrZXz10FcVM
Further information
• alzheimers.org.uk
• Factsheets
• Support groups, day
care
• Helpline
Further information
• Dementia Knowledge
Centre
• Counting the Cost
• This is Me
• Worried About Your
Memory?
Resources from other sources to
help you
• Royal College of Nursing Dementia
http://www.rcn.org.uk/development/practic
e/dementia
• Inappropriate use of antipsychotic drugs –
A call to action
• http://www.dementiaaction.org.uk
Thank you
www.alzheimers.org.uk