The rising demand for dementia care will continue to overwhelm both the NHS and care providers unless there is a significant increase in specialist training, experts believe.
Capacity and support for nearly one million people in the UK who live with dementia is already stretched, but less than half of care workers have been given any dementia training and the situation will only worsen with the the number of dementia sufferers expected to rise to 1.4 million by 2040.
Although diagnosis rates are improving after an all-time low, they still remain inconsistent. The latest data show a record 487,432 people had a dementia diagnosis in June. However, the rate remains below pre-pandemic levels, with 65 per cent of people estimated to have the condition diagnosed, below the 66.7 per cent NHS target, which was last met in 2019.
The Government has promised to bring care to people’s homes and communities and to “put Britain at the forefront of dementia care”, despite delaying the introduction of a cap on social care costs.
As society continues to age, there is an important challenge to improve both the quality and quantity of care for people with dementia, Lord Darzi pointed out in his report in September.
i spoke to Emily Hindle, policy manager at Alzheimer’s Society, to establish what the Government can do to help dementia sufferers and their families.
Pool costs of dementia care across society
During the election, Labour promised to follow through on Conservative plans to limit the amount anyone in England would need to spend on care to £86,000 from 2025, with local authorities picking up the additional costs.
But one of the Government’s first major announcements on entering office was to scrap plans to introduce a cap on social care costs with Chancellor Rachel Reeves announcing that the reforms would not be implemented, as spending cuts were needed due to the discovery of a £22bn “black hole” in the public finances.
Ms Hindle said the charity was “disappointed” by the decision, as it supports an approach that “pools the risk of care costs across society”.
“At the moment, individuals pay around £100,000 for care on average, and so we want a model that spreads risk across society. A care cap is one of the ways of doing that.”
“We’ve heard the plans in the manifesto for a national care service,” she added.
“We don’t have any detail on that yet, so we need more information about what they would include, and whether that would include anything around charging.”
Unlike the NHS, social care is not free at the point of use but means-tested, with local authorities setting eligibility rules and paying for local services where individuals qualify.
With dementia patients making up 70 per cent of care home residents and 60 per cent of those who receive care in the community, the condition can come with a crippling financial burden.
An estimated 37 per cent (137,480) of people in residential care homes are estimated to be self-funded, covering their own costs. Another 23 per cent of people using community care services are estimated to be self-funded (83,844).
Require all care staff to undertake specialised dementia training
While dementia patients make up most people in care, staff are not required to undertake specialist training on how to treat people with the condition.
“There are a number of specialist needs associated with dementia,” Ms Hindle said.
“Dementia can affect individuals’ ability to communicate, and we need care staff that understand that and the importance of cognitively stimulating activities.
“Even small things like helping people put their hearing aids in so they can hear can help prevent cognitive decline, but so many care staff don’t necessarily understand the importance of that.”
Sir Alex Ferguson: ‘I’m frightened of getting dementia’
Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has spoken to BBC Breakfast about how he helps families affected by dementia, and what he does to keep his brain active.
When asked if he is frightened by dementia, Sir Alex says: “100 per cent, absolutely. I’d be lying if I said anything different. I read a lot. I do quizzes a lot and I think that helps. You have these YouTube quizzes of 100 questions and if I don’t get to 70 per cent I’m struggling!”
Sir Alex was speaking as part of National Playlist Day, which is used to celebrate the power of personalised music playlist for those living with dementia. Playlists have been shown to reduce the most distressing symptoms of dementia and improve communication.
Only 45 per cent of care workers have any dementia training, according to Skills for Care, the sector workforce body.
Alzheimer’s Society is calling on the Government to introduce a statutory duty for CQC regulated care providers to ensure their staff undertake high quality dementia training.
This would be mapped to the dementia training standards framework, a set of standards for best practice developed by experts in the field.
Fair pay for care workers
Care workers, the majority of whom are women, are among the lowest paid in the country, with some providers paying just a few pence over the minimum wage.
The issue of low pay has been linked to staffing shortages in the sector.
Skills for Care has warned that a further 540,000 social care posts are required by 2040 if the workforce is to grow in line with the increase in the number of people over the age of 65.
By the same year, the number of people with dementia is expected to rise by 400,000 to 1.4 million.
“What we support is fair pay for care workers,” Ms Hindle said.
She pointed to a workforce strategy, a series of long-term recommendations for the sector developed by Skills for Care, which stresses the importance of pay in improving recruitment and retention.
In its manifesto, Labour promised to introduce a fair pay agreement guaranteeing care workers a wage of at least £12, bringing them closer in line with nurses and other NHS staff.
Raise diagnosis targets
A record number of people in England (487,432) received a dementia diagnosis last year.
However, a recent all-party parliamentary group (APPG) report highlighted that more than 115,000 people with dementia are still losing out due to a post code lottery, going undiagnosed because of where they live.
“We want to see more people with dementia being diagnosed,” Ms Hindle said.
“Currently, a third of people living with dementia don’t have a diagnosis at all. If people get diagnosed earlier, they should be able to get the care and symptomatic treatment that can help delay the progression of the disease.”
“We need to see ambitious new target rates, she added. “At the moment, the target rate is around 66 per cent – but we think that needs to be higher.”