Unprecedented pressures on adult social care are resulting in waiting lists that are growing by 600 people a day, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) said. According to ADASS, almost 300,000 people are now waiting for an assessment of their needs by social workers, up by 44% in five months. One in…
Housing and care provider Anchor announced Lucie Cerna and Daliah Ifeanyi as the winners of its Apprenticeship Awards. Lucie, who works at Anchor’s Beech Hall care home in Leeds, bagged Apprentice of the Year, while Dahlia from the Kerrie Court care home in Birmingham got the Rising Star award. They beat dozens of finalists to…
Highlighting key achievements in 2021-22, NAPA’s new Annual Impact Report shows that membership grew as the activities charity focused on a digital approach during the pandemic. The report details how this digital approach enabled 3,200 members – up 6% on the previous year – to introduce new ways of working, gain access to practice development…
Findings from four separate studies, presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) in San Diego earlier this month, point to stark inequalities in dementia risk and have led to calls for government action to address them. “Bolder government action” is needed, said Alzheimer’s Research UK (ARUK), with the findings indicating that people who experience…
Waiting times for memory assessment services increased markedly during the pandemic, an audit conducted by the Royal College of Psychiatrists has indicated. Average waiting times from memory service referral to diagnosis increased by more than a third between 2019 and 2021, rising from 13 weeks to 17.7 weeks on average. The audit also indicated that…
Prescriptions for harmful antipsychotics leapt by 50% in dementia care during the pandemic, research led by Exeter University and King’s College London has found. The research, presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) in San Diego, showed that 28% of people with dementia in care homes had been prescribed antipsychotic medication compared with 18%…
Life drawing classes are among the varied activities at Sherwood Grange care home in London. When residents at the Care UK home were asked about their model preferences, nearly all said a “nice handsome man.” Resident Rosemary Lester is pictured checking for accuracy: “I was very glad to take part in the class, I hadn’t…
Alzheimer’s Society has teamed up with the government-funded National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to invest £7.5 million in 45 new post-doctoral posts in dementia research. It is hoped that the investment will counter a recent decrease in the number of early career researchers in the field and ultimately improve care, diagnosis and…
Gaps remain in how vulnerable people are protected in care settings, a powerful parliamentary committee has found. The Joint Committee on Human Rights warns that human rights in care settings are at risk and that cardio-pulmonary resuscitation notices and deprivation of liberty safeguards are often misapplied. In its report “Protecting human rights in care settings”…
New findings have called into question the “amyloid hypothesis” for Alzheimer’s disease, which holds that clumps of amyloid beta protein in the brain are the primary cause of the disease. Work by neuroscientist Matthew Schrag, published in the US journal Science, suggests that data underpinning the hypothesis are flawed. Several top Alzheimer’s researchers in the…