Dementia diagnosis rates have “stagnated” since the pandemic, Alzheimer’s Society has said, calling on people to contribute to a new parliamentary inquiry that seeks to find out what the barriers are to a diagnosis. The inquiry, by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Dementia, will consider how diagnosis rates slumped to 62.5% in December, compared…
There have been mixed reactions across health and care to the government’s decision to scrap plans for individual conditions like dementia and replace them with a combined Major Conditions Strategy (see JDC Newsletter, 2 February). Last year the government promised 10-year plans for various individual conditions, including dementia, cancer and mental health, but in January…
A new photographic exhibition intends to spark conversations about how society supports, respects and includes people who live with memory problems. Participants in the NIHR-funded APPLE-Tree dementia risk study, led by Queen Mary University of London and ILC-UK, collaborated with photographer and artist Sukey Parnell-Johnson to make and curate the public exhibition, at the Holy…
Alzheimer’s Society has called on the government to deliver on its dementia commitments after being told 25 times that the long-promised “ten-year plan for dementia” would appear “in due course”. An open letter, signed by 36,000 members of the public, was delivered by Society ambassadors to 10 Downing Street demanding that the government make dementia…
Health secretary Steve Barclay held out the prospect of a government Major Conditions Strategy designed to tackle six health conditions including dementia. Barclay told the House of Commons that the policy would mark a shift to “integrated, whole-person care,” alleviating pressure on the health system, increasing healthy life expectancy and reducing health-related unemployment. The major…
Adopting at least four healthy lifestyle habits can slow down cognitive decline, a large-scale China study has found. The China Cognition and Ageing Study, in a paper published in the BMJ, considered six healthy lifestyle factors and discovered that those who did one or none of them showed the fastest decline, while those who did…
Amateur rugby players have followed their professional counterparts in launching a lawsuit over brain injuries causing dementia. More than 55 players sent a “letter of claim” to rugby governing bodies, including the Rugby Football Union, as a prelude to a lawsuit. The players claim that governing bodies were negligent in failing to protect them from…
Church leaders have called for a National Care Covenant in a landmark report produced by the Archbishops’ Commission on Reimagining Care. The commission set up by the Church of England began taking evidence in summer 2021 and urges the government to radically rethink the social care system. A “reimagined” care system based on a National…
Dorset care home Newstone House opened a therapy room in honour of former resident Graham Richmond. Called the Richmond Retreat, it is a sensory-based room promoting wellbeing and relaxation for residents at the dementia care home. Resident Donald Skilling is pictured in the new room by a wallpaper photo of nearby Sturminster Newton Mill.
A new phase of its “I live with dementia” campaign has been triggered by Dementia UK, the Admiral Nurse charity. The campaign helps families affected by dementia and raises awareness of the support Admiral Nurses can provide. January is one of the busiest months for the Dementia UK helpline after relatives have come together over…