Health and Social Care Delivery for People with Dementia Pdf

Health and Social Care Delivery for People with Dementia Dr. Nancy Agnes, Head, Technical Operations, Tutorsindia info@ tutorsindia.com

I. INTRODUCTION Disabilities can be caused by several factors and one of the leading causes of disability amongst the elderly population has been recognized as dementia. It has also been observed that the prevalence of dementia tends to double during a span of twenty years wherein the estimated costs of the gross domestic product is pegged at 1 per cent. The necessities of people suffering with dementia are quite cumulative, chronic and they warrant support from social and healthcare and also from care-givers from the family. Dementia is known to make a deep societal impact and the advantages presented by prioritizing early identification of patients are quite well-rehearsed.

This would comprise of predicting the future requirements of patients and their families and also access to interventions at an early stage. Psychosocial interventions and utilizing medications within primary care for people with dementia tends to provide substantial advantages for enhancing the level of care that is provided. It has been stated by Alzheimer’s Society [2] that the number of people in the UK who have been diagnosed with dementia totals around 850,000. The authors further state that this number would witness an exponential increase over the forthcoming decades. As a matter of fact, [3] goes on to add that one out of every three individuals who have been born in 2015 would tend to develop dementia during the course of their life. Such statistics tend to draw the attention on the growing issue of dementia within the UK thus rendering it significant for diverse social and healthcare professionals to provide health and social care in an effective manner to individuals suffering from dementia. This brief essay will deliberate about social and healthcare delivery to individuals with dementia on the basis of a bio-psychosocial viewpoint.

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Figure 1: Global Incidence of Dementia Source: Erica Lefstad [4].

II. DEFINING DEMENTIA Dementia has been defined by NICE guideline [5] as a rather progressive as well as irreversible clinical syndrome that causes diverse kinds of damages to mental functions like, loss of memory, disorientation, language impairments, challenges in executing dayto-day activities, self-neglect, personality changes, out of character behaviours and psychiatric symptoms. On the basis of this definition, it becomes clear as to the manner in which dementia is known to impact not just the physical or biological facets of the health of an individual but also the sociological and psychological facets. Tackling these are of much significance as it has been stated by the World Health Organization (WHO) that health refers to state of overall mental, social and physical well-being and does not exclusively refer to a lack of infirmity or disease. However, it would also make sense to mention that as of now dementia is incurable. This is mainly owing to the fact that dementia is an outcome of various underlying health conditions. Therefore, it is not possible to have a single cure for all kinds of dementia. The several kinds of dementia would comprise of; vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia, Alzheimer’s (the most common form), dementia with lewy bodies and several others [6].

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helpful to them in effectively tackling issues pertaining to the required adjustments they would have to undergo as an outcome of their ailment.

IV. CONCLUSION

III. CARE DELIVERY There is scope for deliberating that the focus in terms of provision of care for people with dementia would be to assist them to cope and manage their condition in a highly effective manner, while preventing complications as well as other challenges associated with health that would be an outcome of a gradual progression of symptoms and illness. It has been stated by Handley, Bunn and Goodman [7] that social and health care professionals should focus more on sustaining the independence of patients as much as possible while tackling the challenges confronted by patients in terms of their day-to-day functioning, in order to increase their functionality while reducing the need for support. It would also be critical to stress upon the fact that care management in dementia is rather individualistic as all individuals with dementia might be confronted with distinct challenges related to their ailment and this would largely hinge on the stage and nature of their disease.

From a psychosocial viewpoint, the argument that people who have been diagnosed with dementia tend to suffer negative feelings with regards to their diagnosis, does hold true. In the likely instance that the patient happens to be a female who has been diagnosed with dementia recently, it would be important on the part of social and healthcare professionals to provide the patient and her family with adequate information that would allow them to better understand the disease and thus be better prepared to cope with the changes that the patient and her family members might experience as an outcome of the diagnosis of dementia of the patient. This argument is supported with a cross-sectional study that was carried out by Lee, Roen and Thornton [8] which found that it was necessary for people with dementia to be in a position to understand and derive sense from their diagnosis as this would prove to be

Care management in dementia would comprise of tackling the psychosocial and biological effects that emerge due to the condition. The focus in terms of care delivery should be directed at assisting the patient to sustain their functionality without any unnecessary complications and effectively allowing the patient and the family to cope with the condition.

Social as well as healthcare professionals need to make sure that interventions of care are largely personalized which indicate that the stage of dementia and the required concerns and necessities of patients should be initially identified using diverse strategies and tools. Offering information to the patient as well as his or her family is critical as it allows them to get better insights about the condition and thus circumvent any burden or stigma associated with dementia.

REFERENCES [1]

F. Bunn et al., “Healthcare organisation and delivery for people with dementia and comorbidity: a qualitative study exploring the views of patients, carers and professionals,” BMJ Open, vol. 7, no. 1, p. e013067, Jan. 2017, doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013067.

[2]

Alzheimer’s Society, “Dementia UK Second edition - Overview,” 2014. [Online].

Available: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/59437/1/Dementia_U K_Second_edition_-_Overview.pdf.

[3]

F. Lewis, “Estimation of future cases of dementia from those born in 2015,” 2015.

[Online].

Available: https://www.ohe.org/system/files/private/publ ications/417 - Estimation of future cases of dementia.pdf.

[4]

Erica Lefstad, “The Epidemiology and Impact of Dementia Current State and Future Trends,” 2015.

[Online].

Available: https://www.who.int/mental_health/neurolog y/dementia/dementia_thematicbrief_epidemio logy.pdf.

[5]

NICE guideline, “Dementia: assessment, management and support for people living with dementia and their carers,” 2018. https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng97.

[6]

NHS, “Dementia,” https://www.england.nhs.uk/mental-

2021.

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health/dementia/.

[7]

M. Handley, F. Bunn, and C. Goodman, “Dementia-friendly interventions to improve the care of people living with dementia admitted to hospitals: a realist review,” BMJ Open, vol. 7, no. 7, p. e015257, Jul. 2017, doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-015257.

[8]

S. M. Lee, K. Roen, and A. Thornton, “The psychological impact of a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease,” Dementia, vol. 13, no.

3, pp. 289–305, May 2014, doi: 10.1177/1471301213497080.

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