I met with Tom Redfearn and Laura Mullaney from Alzheimer's Society earlier today to continue our discussions on the impact of COVID on people with dementia, and what the Government needs to put in place to support them.
I was alarmed to hear from them that there has been a steady fall in national dementia diagnosis rates since February this year, and they have now fallen well below the target of 66.7 per cent (which, as Alzheimer's Society made clear, is already low). The latest figures from October 2020 show a national diagnosis rate of 62.9 per cent. This is a fall from 67.4 per cent in March 2020. The diagnosis rate in LB Sutton is 69.7 per cent - a fall from 75.6 per cent in March 2020.
As Tom and Laura rightly highlighted, lower diagnosis rates mean that more people are living without a diagnosis of dementia, and are unable to access emotional, practical, legal and financial advice as a result. Whilst memory services are adapting to open virtually which is a welcome interim measure, memory assessment services must re-open in person at the earliest opportunity. In person is the best way to receive such a life-changing diagnosis too.
We also touched on the vital importance of a clear strategy from the Government to enable people affected by dementia to recover from the effects of the pandemic, including rehabilitation to counteract effects on cognitive or physical functioning, support for mental and physical health, and speech and language therapy. This is set out in more detail in the "Worst Hit: dementia during coronavirus" report produced by Alzheimer's Society, which has eight recommendations in total on ensuring that the needs and views of people affected by dementia, as those worst hit by the pandemic, are recognised as central moving forward.
Alzheimer's Society's position, which I support, is that the strategy needs to be comprehensive, covering the needs of people living with dementia in care homes and the community, and those who care for them too. It should explore physical and mental health challenges for people with dementia including addressing the effects of deconditioning and lower mobility, speech and language difficulties and cognition. For informal carers, they wish to see the delivery of carers’ assessments, including work to identify carers where they may not self-identify and the provision of additional support where needed, and short respite breaks for carers.
And finally, we discussed the need for long-term social care reform. I absolutely agree with them that the Government needs to bring forward plans for long-term social care reform in early 2021 which addresses the unfairness people affected by dementia face in the system. The impact of COVID on people with Alzheimer's in care homes has been truly awful, and has had a huge impact on the lives of the people living with dementia and those family and friends who care for and support them; meaningful visits where you can hold hands, hug, etc. have to resume as quickly as possible. As someone who previously worked in the NHS, they are entirely right that the proposal, and therefore the system, should be considered before the financial side – we need the right system, or at the very least a solid foundation to work from.
Alzheimer’s Society believes the legacy of the pandemic must be a universal social care system, free at the point of use, that provides every person with dementia with the quality care they need. This would see social care put on equal footing with the NHS, and no longer the poor relation. I wholeheartedly support them on this.
I am very grateful to Tom and Laura for taking the time to speak with me, and I will continue to offer my full support to work with them - and other charities and organisations supporting those who live with dementia and those who care for them - to tackle this. I look forward to seeing the Social Care Green Paper as soon as possible.