A Spotlight On... Dementia Awareness Dementia is one of the most severe and devastating disorders that we face as a society. With Dementia Action Week recently raising awareness of the condition, we are highlighting the need for early diagnosis by taking a look at our Dementia Awareness eLearning module.
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ompleted by more than 140,000 professionals, our online training module is helping to support health and social care workers throughout the country to understand dementia so they can improve care for the people who need it most. More people are living with dementia today than at any other point in history, yet we have only scratched the surface when it comes to understanding this condition and we are still in search of a cure.
Lewis Cowlishaw Content Development Manager at Blue Stream Academy Lewis Cowlishaw oversees the research, writing and development of our eLearning content while coordinating with subject matter experts from across the UK. “Our enthusiastic in-house development team ensures that we stay on top of the latest developments,” says Lewis. “The key to success at BSA is about being on the pulse of the health and care sector, and having a devoted following of passionate users certainly helps too.”
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Dementia is one of the main causes of disability later in life, affecting more people than cancer, cardiovascular disease and strokes. But, as a country, we spend far less on dementia than we do on these other conditions. In years gone by, dementia was thought to be a natural part of ageing, but thanks to research and a growing understanding, people with dementia can now live a longer and more fulfilling life. • There are more than 850,000 people with dementia in the UK, with numbers expected to reach 1.6 million by 2040. • One in six people over the age of 80 have dementia. • Two-thirds of the cost of dementia is paid for by people with dementia and their families.
• There are over 42,000 people under 65 with dementia in the UK. As with any facts and figures it is important to know how these affect your own area, you can see the prevalence of dementia in your area by checking the map at www.dementiastatistics.org/ statistics/dementia-maps. Dementia is caused when the brain is damaged by specific diseases, which include Alzheimer’s disease. Dementia is an umbrella term used to describe a set of symptoms, which can include memory loss and difficulties with language, problemsolving and thinking. Dementia is a progressive disease, which means that symptoms gradually get worse over time. How symptoms develop varies greatly from person to person, but as dementia progresses a person may develop behaviours that are unusual or out of character.
