Dementia Hubs

It's been a while since our previous post, so I thought we were due an update on the dementia support hubs going into 2013.

Our hubs are for people with a recent diagnosis, or memory loss worries, and have a dual aim of connecting people with others in a similar situation, and inviting guests from local organisations of particular interest to carers and people with dementia.  

We want to ensure people have the information they need, to adjust to life with dementia in the present and planning ahead. The groups are informal and welcoming to all.

Urmston Hub

Conservative Club, Crofts Bank Road
First Tuesday of the month (6th Nov, 4th Dec, 8th Jan etc)
1:30- 3:30 pm


Hale Hub

Hale Library, Leigh Road 
Third Monday of the month (19th Nov, 17th Dec, 21st Jan etc)
1:30 - 3:30 pm

Carers Group and Post-Christmas meet

Our Friday Carers Group at Butler Court will cease from January 2013.

Instead, we are starting a floating group, to meet in various public establishments around Trafford every 6 weeks.  Carers are welcome to attend all the dates, but we also extend to those who just want to come along when we are at a local venue. Carers can treat themselves to lunch if they wish.

Before our carers group gets started in earnest, we will be having a post-Christmas social, to which both people with dementia and carers are invited:

Friday 13th January, 1pm at The King's Ransom in Sale.

People will be able to buy lunch or simply come for the company. If you would like to come, please let the dementia advisers know, so we have an idea of how many will attend - on 0161 746 3944.

The 2013 Carers Meetings are planned as follows,  1 - 3pm:

Monday 11th February at Mersey Farm, Ashton on Mersey
Tuesday 26th March at The Roebuck, Urmston
Wednesday 1st May at The Moss Trooper, Timperley
Thursday 13th June at Dunham Massey Estate
Friday 26th July at Sale Water Park
Monday 23rd September at The Cottage, Hale
Tuesday 29th October at The Urmston Hotel, Urmston
Wednesday 11th December at The Hare and Hounds, Timperley

Please note, the above dates are only for carers.

As always, don't hesitate to call on 9161 746 3944 with questions or enquiries.

Older People's Day 2012

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.