This afternoon, I spoke in the Westminster Hall debate on the effect of the COVID-19 outbreak on people affected by dementia.
Living with dementia can be a scary and worrying time. The effect this has on family and friends can also be stark, as they see someone they love slowly deteriorate.
My own family had to go through this with my Grandad, and it was one of the toughest times in our lives. Suddenly family and friends find that they become carers first and family second. As time passes, you recognise less of the person you love as they sadly also recognise less of you.
The situation in dementia care was already challenging before coronavirus hit, and it has only exacerbated the problem.
The Alzheimer’s Society has produced a report entitled “Worst Hit: Dementia during Coronavirus” and it has some pretty stark findings:
- 27.5 per cent of all those who died of COVID-19 from March to June had dementia. For the same period, dementia was the most common pre-existing condition with for COVID deaths.
- For people who survived the crisis, the effects of social isolation were severe. 46 per cent of people with dementia in their survey reported that lockdown had a negative impact on their mental health.
- 82 per cent reported a deterioration in the symptoms of people with dementia.
- 92 million extra hours have been spent by family and friends caring for loved ones with dementia, and 95 per cent of carers in our survey reported a negative impact on their mental or physical health.
The Alzheimer’s Society has two key recommendations to Government, one for the short-term as we continue to tackle Coronavirus, and one for the longer-term.
In the shorter-term, it calls for the Government to recognise the key role that informal carers play in the lives of people living with dementia by:
- Allowing for at least one informal carer per care home resident to be designated a key worker, with access to training, COVID-19 testing/vaccinations and PPE.
- Ensuring the delivery of carers’ assessments and provision of short breaks for carers.
- Collecting local authority and health authority data on carer assessments and respite care.
Longer-term, which is something as a former NHS worker myself I am extremely passionate about, is about setting out those long term plans for social care reform, especially around the cost of care, but also in tackling the issues of career pathways, recruitment and retention to tackle significant issues in the workforce.
Change is often unnerving. But to a person living with Dementia, an upheaval the likes of which coronavirus has brought about could be nothing short of terrifying.
Indeed, if my Grandad was still with us, I really don’t know how he or the family would have got through this year, so I commend everyone caring for a loved one with dementia in Carshalton and Wallington, and I hope the Minister will be able to reflect on the Alzheimer’s Society recommendations to see what we can do for them.
You can read a transcript of the entire debate here, and you can watch my contributions above.