Better dementia treatment and care is crucial
Earlier this year, I wrote about the publication of the latest dementia strategy by the Scottish Government.
The gap between the policy rhetoric and people’s experience of care was clear.
As recent figures have highlighted a dramatic increase in the number of deaths related to dementia across Scotland, with the mortality rate for 2022 twice what it was in 2000, the need to make improvements across diagnosis, treatment and delivery of care is more important than ever.
During the pandemic, the only cause of death in the UK above Covid was dementia – yet there has not been any sense of urgency applied to the disease from our governments.
While the swift development of a vaccine for Covid demonstrated what can be achieved with political will, funding provision and the opening up of regulatory routes, we are yet to see this applied to the development of treatment or cures for diseases like dementia.
The social restrictions of Covid were also particularly difficult not just for those living with dementia, but also for their carers and loved ones.
The removal of social contact brought with it an end to many services like lunch clubs and care at home that were vital to those affected by it and many have simply never restarted.
Many people with dementia are still able to live at home, but part of that involves participation in local support not just for those with dementia, but for their carers as well.
We need to see adequate funding for community provision, including warm places for people to go and engage with others, but amid the cost of living crisis we are seeing even more of this fall away.
As the number of people who have died from dementia increases, as has the gender split.
Women are almost twice as likely to die from dementia as men, a statistic widely attributed to the fact that women typically live longer.
But there is some research showing that, once life expectancy taken out there, is still a higher incidence of dementia among women.
Women are also more likely to be involved in caring responsibilities for others with dementia.
As people live longer the number of people living globally with dementia is expected to triple by 2050 but the challenge of properly supporting and caring for those living with dementia is already difficult.
Across Scotland more than half of long-stay residents in care homes have been diagnosed with dementia and care homes are the most common location of dementia deaths.
But we cannot keep standing still while that challenge grows.
We need to act now to ensure better provision of diagnosis and care, to promote preventative action such as reducing lifestyle risk factors, and to accelerate scientific research and development to support better treatment, for those who are living with dementia now and in the years to come.