Dementia patients to get memory help

MORE than 1,000 undiagnosed dementia suffers in Oldham were offered a lifeline last night after ministers announced they will set up memory clinics in every town.

Doctors will be given extra training to spot early signs of the disease, dementia advisers will help patients and families and there will be experts working in hospitals and care homes, care minister Phil Hope announced.

A publicity campaign to promote awareness will be launched, and school children and employers could be taught about the condition.

So far, £150 million has been earmarked for the five-year strategy for England in response to rising dementia figures.

There is no known cure for the condition, but it is believed early intervention can help people live independently for longer.

Figures from the NHS information centre show there are 1,023 sufferers across the borough who are registered with their GP.

But, according to research by the Alzheimer’s Society, there are 2,295 dementia sufferers across Oldham — that’s around 1,2720 who are not known to their GPs and have no access to drugs or specialist assistance.

Mr Hope said the clinics would act as “one-stop shops” with expert advice, support and information for sufferers and carers.

“It takes an average of three years after the disease begins for people to be diagnosed, partly because a lot of GPs are not trained to spot the early signs.

“This is a momentous opportunity to avert a dementia crisis that could overwhelm the NHS and social care,” he said.

“If you get early diagnosis and early intervention it improves the patient’s quality of life.

“There will be a memory clinic in every town,” he added.

Nationally, there are 571,469 sufferers according to estimated figures from the Alzheimer’s Society, with almost a quarter of a million — 220,246 — patients known to GPs.

Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Society, warned that a million people will develop dementia in the next 10 years.

But the Tories said the announcement was “too little too late”.

And the Liberal Democrat spokesman for older people, Greg Mulholland, said Government should invest in research.

He said: “No increase in research funding means we will remain no closer to understanding dementia or addressing the devastating impact that it has on thousands sufferers.

“The problem of dementia is not going to go away, and unless it is properly addressed now the costs to sufferers, their families, and the health service will only get worse.”