Post-code lottery in care revealed as government publishes dementia ‘atlas’ of standards across England
This week the Alzheimer’s Society and Government announced actress Carey Mulligan is to be a UK ambassador for Dementia Friends. It’s the biggest ever initiative to change people’s perceptions of dementia and aims to transform the way the nation thinks acts and talks about the condition. Mulligan has spoken movingly about how she has experienced first-hand the “devastating” impact of dementia because her grandmother suffers from the disease. Since 2013 over 1.6. million people have signed up to become a Dementia Friend. On the same platform, health secretary Jeremy Hunt launched a new online ‘dementia atlas’ of Britain. The atlas has five different categories for how good an area is for dementia patients, including prevention, diagnosis and support as well as “living well” and “dying well”. The atlas reveals huge gaps in the quality of care, with around 80% of those with the illness being made to attend hospital in Knowsley, Merseyside, compared to just 16% in Medway, Kent. Nottingham West has the highest proportion of people aged over 65 years with dementia (at 5.6%) while the lowest is Kernow, Cornwall (just 3%). The data shows that some of England’s most rural areas score well on Government indicators while many inner city areas are worse off. Cornwall, Devon, Cumbria and coastal areas of East Anglia, for example, score highly when it comes to allowing patients to be treated in care homes rather than in hospitals. The best area for regular checks on dementia care is North East Lincolnshire, which does so for 86% of patients. Mr Hunt believes that the atlas will help “drive up standards” across the country to ensure patients get the standard of care that they need, he said “by publishing the current levels of care, we are shining a spotlight on areas where there is still work to be done, whilst highlighting where we can learn from best practice.”