In a surprise New Year announcement, the government said its strategy on dementia care would be wrapped up in a single policy for six major conditions. Is the proposed Major Conditions Strategy, covering illnesses like cancer and heart disease as well as dementia, the right answer or should dementia have a strategy of its own?…...
May 15th-21st is Dementia Action Week and as I write with a fortnight to go the omens are good for a post-pandemic revival of much needed enthusiasm at the grassroots. Diagnosis rates fell markedly during the pandemic and this year the focus of the week is quite rightly on getting them back up again. Among…...
Vulnerability is “such a powerful tool” says Caregiver Warrior, an American blog in which Susanne shares “wisdom from the inside” of caring. When Susanne turned grey with exhaustion one day, her mother, who has dementia, noticed and responded with a level of empathy and kindness that she hadn’t shown for some time. “I was completely…...
Feelings: listen and validate by Shirley Pearce It is over 30 years since Tom Kitwood and Kathleen Bredin first described four “global sentient states”, or feelings, that are required for a sense of well-being: self-esteem, agency, social confidence and hope. These elements of wellbeing are interdependent: like pillars supporting a heavy platform, damaging one puts…...
Now that the US medicines regulator has granted accelerated approval for the Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab, the way is clear for similar approvals in the UK and Europe. We have been here before, of course, when the American Food and Drug Administration gave qualified approval two years ago to another monoclonal antibody drug called aducanumab, which…...
By Keith Oliver The start of the New Year is an ideal time to revisit or reconsider what has gone before and what might lie ahead. It seems quite unbelievable that 12 years ago, when I was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, I could not find any books written by or with a person with dementia…....
Diagnosis rates are down, care providers are closing, and waiting lists for social care needs assessments are growing. What will it take to rebuild dementia care? George Rook, a Dementia Diarist living in north Shropshire: “Rebuild” implies that there was previously a structure that collapsed. But there has been no such structure, universally in place…...
This is something of a departure from our usual Dementia Diaries column. At the end of 2022 we held a week-long festival as a culmination of DEEP’s 10th Anniversary. It comes as no surprise that Diarists popped up regularly across the 21 events that we organised over the week. Dementia Diarists have their own virtual…...
JDC Asks: How do issues of diversity impact on people’s experiences of living with dementia or caring for someone with the condition? Journal of Dementia Care 30(6) 15-16 Lucy Whitman, independent writer and editor: You are a 50 year old man with dementia and it is no longer possible for you to live in the…...
McCreath I (2022) Perspectives: Introducing the Dementia Change Action Network. Journal of Dementia Care 30(6) 19. Introducing the Dementia Change Action Network By Ian McCreath, chair of the Dementia Change Action Network The Dementia Change Action Network (DCAN) is an open network for people with dementia and families to come together with professionals in health,…...