Dementia Hub at Hale

Falls Awareness Week 18th - 24th June 2012

Number Crunching with Dementia

A report by the Health Foundation in October 2011 has provided some estimates of potential financial savings that could be made by treatments and support for people with dementia.

This table takes a bit of time to absorb – of course the figures are estimates, and I can’t comment on the accuracy or efficacy of the sums.  But they give us an idea of the amounts of money we are talking about, that is, how much each parent, spouse, grandparent, each person with dementia costs to care for.

There are several things that can be pulled from this. Firstly, the importance of seeking and accepting support early on, despite being counter intuitive to many, actually can have a positive financial effect, as well as maintaining the quality of life we expect by retaining independence and membership of our community. It also highlights the cost of complications including infections and fractures, both of which may be to some extent preventable with good information and support to people with dementia and their family carers. The complications experienced within hospital also may be reduced by good quality dementia care – which is not universally provided at the present time. Once again, dementia’s unique place between health and social care means efficiency is dependent on convergent, symbiotic practices. The report also notes that the implementation of the National Dementia Strategy will create a £1.35 billion deficiency, after the £533 million it will save, which in other words is an acknowledgement that the necessary changes in provision for people with dementia should not be squeezed or confused with altering service provision to cut costs. Schemes such as direct payments and personal budgets are therefore only going to be effective in terms of supporting people with dementia if they are not constrained and governed solely by the need to save money. The final point I wish to make (although not the final point that can be made) is the financial cost of prescribing anti-psychotic drugs needlessly and without benefit. With good quality diagnosis, early treatment and support for family carers, including knowledge of how to reduce the risk of delirium, altering the elements which can be changed, including environment and caring approaches to alleviate certain situations, higher level needs can be supported without anti-psychotic medication.

The entire report can be found here: http://www.health.org.uk/public/cms/75/76/4181/2703/Spotlight_Dementia%20Care.pdf?realName=55ojeV.pdf  

Estimated costs of care for people with dementia and potential savings (found on p33 of The Health Foundation’s report, linked above)

	Estimated Costs	Potential For Savings
	Direct healthcare costs £8bn a year in UK. Memory clinic service for early diagnosis: £220m a year in England.	Cost saving after six years if use of memory clinics for early diagnosis leads to 20% or more reduction in need for residential care.
	Anti-Alzheimer drugs: £720 per patient per year (assume £60 per month). Excess bed-days in acute hospital: £1,400 per week. Clinical leader to implement dementia care pathway in every acute trust: £3m a year in UK.	12% reduction in need for residential care in people with mild to moderate dementia treated for six months or longer. £117m if length of stay is reduced by seven days for every inpatient with dementia admitted for fractured hip, chest infection, urinary tract infection or mini stroke. £700m if length of stay reduced by two days for every inpatient with dementia by providing psychiatrist-led multidisciplinary assessment, or intermediate care. Assuming 25% of people aged 60+ admitted have dementia, and excess bed cost is £200 per day. £38m from seven day reduction in hospital admissions from use of hospital at home scheme £400 per patient whose length of stay is reduced by two days from use of psychiatrist-led assessment of all elderly patients admitted to hospital
	Inappropriate use of medication: £84m a year for 140,000 people in England given antipsychotic drugs who are unlikely to benefit and may be harmed by them	£84m a year from stopping inappropriate use of antipsychotic drugs (assume £600 for one year’s treatment per patient)
Social Care	Long-term residential care: £9bn a year in UK. Community social service costs: £2.4bn. Home care: £150 per week. Day care: £90 per week. Residential care: £500 per week, £26,000 per year	18% fewer people needing residential care after two years with care management to coordinate health and social care. £14,000 reduction in costs of residential care from psychosocial care given to carers (200 day delay in need for residential care).
Costs to the patient, family and other informal carers	Costs of informal care: £12bn a year for UK. £270 per patient per week if carer time estimated at minimum wage	£1,280 saved per patient over three months from an occupational therapy training service for carers

 As always if you require any information on supporting someone with dementia in Trafford, please do not hesitate to contact us on 0161 746 3944.

New Group Starting

Quick reminder for our first peer support group on Tuesday:

1st Tuesday in the month from 3rd April

Urmston Conservative Club, Crofts Bank Road, Urmston

1:00 - 3:30 pm

Open to anyone with memory loss / dementia diagnosis and supportive allies.

There will be a newsletter coming out in the near future, and because of the impending rise in postage costs, we are planning to e-mail out to anyone who is happy to receive it electronically.
If we don't already have your e-mail address, and you would like an electronic copy, drop us a line at dementia.adviser@ageuktrafford.org.uk or call on 0161 746 3944 with your details.

Home Care Road Show

At our last memory event, we promised to arrange an opportunity for people to meet and find out more about home care agencies in the borough.

We hear lots of stories about home care experiences - there are good examples as well as problems - and often people are unsure about what they can ask for, what they should expect, and who they can talk to about the care they receive. This is particularly true for people with memory loss / dementia who may be reliant on support for their day to day wellbeing. Carers also often have phone calls from so many people they can feel in a fog as to who is responsible for what, and who they can call to resolve issues.

We have therefore arranged an event, detailed below, to provide an opportunity for anyone looking to put care in place, or who already receives it, to find out about home care and ask the questions they have.

Home Care Roadshow
Tuesday 24th April
Urmston Library, Crofts Bank Road, Urmston
10:45 - 1:00 pm

The event is informal, free to attend and hot drinks will be available. Please feel free to invite anyone who may be interested or who would benefit as 16 home care providers in Trafford will be joining us.

If you have any questions, as always, please don't hestiate to contact us on 0161 746 3944.

Table Tennis Olympic Celebration

Sport for all. You should be glad we decided against the hurdles.

Hope to see you there.

Door Step Safety and Cold Callers

Trafford Trading Standards came to talk about reducing the risk of becoming victim to doorstep traders and cold telephone callers at our Newhaven group. Whilst acknowledging that there is currently no failsafe way of preventing people with dementia from being vulnerable, there are some steps that everyone can take to reduce the risk and the stress and anxiety associated with it.

1. Keep your door on a chain, and get in the habit of putting it on. If you are unable to verify the person’s identity there and then, it is OK to say you will call their company to arrange for them to return when you are happy for them to.

2. If you’re expecting someone you have not met before, give them a password that no-one else will know.

3. Memo minders can be useful for some people with mild short term memory loss. As well as reminding you, for example, not to sign anything on the spot, hearing second voice in the home can make callers unsure if you are alone.

4. A sticker in the window informing callers they are not welcome should deter genuine traders. Trading standards produce a sticker with their contact number on the side visible to you so you can call to report any problems.

5. Register with the telephone preference service, and the mailing preference service. These make it illegal for companies to make ‘cold’ calls, or send unsolicited mail. It gives you a mechanism for reporting and consequently dealing with, unwanted contact which you may otherwise feel powerless against. It does not stop companies calling who you have had contact with in the past, if you have given permission for them to call.

6. Charities – and trading companies - with whom you have dealt previously should remove your details from their contact list at the first time of asking. If you continue to have problems, Age UK Trafford or Trading Standards can assist.

7. Any person, not just someone with dementia, can be swayed by a friendly sales person. Learn to refuse firmly and confidently and not feel guilty, and don’t hand cash over to anyone.

8. Arranging for a trusted person to hold Lasting Power of Attorney. This means that if the time comes that you have reduced mental capacity to manage your affairs, your appointed person can act on your behalf, which is very difficult otherwise due to strict data protection and fraud prevention laws.

9. Don’t hesitate to report problems to Trading Standards – if they know that someone is about to be taken advantage of, they can take action to prevent this. Remember that if it is happening to you, it is probably going to happen to someone else in the neighbourhood too. The more Trading Standards are aware of, the more they can prevent. If a crime has been committed, or is about to be committed, the police can also act. Silent phone calls are also illegal and can be reported – the number can be traced even if it was withheld.

10. Trafford Consumer Alert Network is an early warning system operated by trading standards – a message is sent to anyone registered by phone, text or email, about cons and scams operating in the local area.  You can then pass the message on to your friends and neighbours who may be vulnerable.

11. Some telephones have a caller display screen – all mobile phones now have this, and you can buy land lines with them. You can then choose not to answer calls if you don’t know the number. You can also purchase a blocker that will stop specific numbers from calling if they are problematic, but these have a higher cost.

People with dementia are at risk regardless of whether they live alone or with someone – after all, no supporter can be around them 24 hours a day, and continued independence is accompanied with risk. Establishment of good habits early on, taking preventative steps rather than waiting for something to happen and being prepared by putting power of attorney in place can all reduce the impact of problems.

Useful Contact phone numbers and web sites

Trafford Trading Standards

Tel. 0161 912 1377

E: trading.standards@trafford.gov.uk

W: www.trafford.gov.uk/ican

Age UK Trafford Dementia Advice Service

T: 0161 746 3944

E: dementia.adviser@ageuktrafford.org.uk

Telephone Preference Service

Tel: 0845 070 0707

W: http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/

Mail Preference Service

W: http://www.mpsonline.org.uk

The Information Commissioners Office

Tel: 030 3123 1113

W: www.ico.gov.uk