Dementia ‘time bomb’

THE growing number of dementia sufferers are being betrayed by a big fall in the number of care home places in Oldham, the Conservatives have claimed.

The Tories released official figures revealing 218 beds — and eight care homes with at least one place registered to care for older people with dementia and/or mental disorder — have been lost in only four years in the area.

In Oldham, there has been a 13 per cent reduction in the number of beds since 2004 — more than double the 5.8 per cent national fall.

The Conservative research came as the Alzheimer’s Society warned that the number of dementia sufferers will soar by 38 per cent over the next 15 years.

Stephen O’Brien, the party’s health spokesman, blamed the cuts on a squeeze on local authority budgets, accusing ministers of failing to take into account the rising cost of caring for an ageing population.

He added: “It is extraordinary that, as the number of dementia sufferers in the UK rises, Labour has presided over cuts to the number of care homes and beds for the most needy.
“Gordon Brown needs urgently to wake up to the scale of the generational time bomb we are facing and begin to take the welfare of the elderly in our society seriously.”

But Phil Hope, the care services minister, insisted the figures did not represent an accurate picture, because people with mild or moderate dementia were in homes not specifically registered for the condition.

Mr Hope said: “We know that people with dementia would rather stay at home for as long as possible, rather than go into care homes.

“We will publish the very first national dementia strategy shortly, which will be a major landmark in improving services for people with dementia and their carers.”

The number of people with dementia — currently 700,000 — will rise to 940,110 by 2021 and to 1,735,087 by 2051, according to the Alzheimer’s Society.

Just over one-third of those with late onset dementia live in a care home, while the remaining two-thirds are looked after in private homes.