New Alzheimer Scotland manifesto calls for £15m investment in dementia services

Words into Action on Dementia

Priorities for Action on Dementia in Scotland

Alzheimer Scotland will be marking World Alzheimer's Day with the launch of a new manifesto calling for a radical overhaul of Scotland's dementia services. Words into Action on Dementia will be officially launched at the charity's annual World Alzheimer Day lecture.

£15m Change Fund

The key element of the manifesto is the call for a £15m 'Change Fund'. This fund would assist local authorities and NHS boards to unlock and redirect resources into early intervention and personalised support for people with dementia and their carers.

Recognise the financial pressure on local authorities

Henry Simmons, Chief Executive, Alzheimer Scotland, warns that planned cuts to public spending could have a devastating impact on local authority services:

Following recent public spending announcements, we are extremely concerned at the potential impact of local authority budget cuts on dementia support services. We recognise the financial pressure on local authorities, but we don't think that 'salami-slicing' percentage cuts across the board is the answer. Why cut services that work well? We should invest more in these services and shift the funding from services that simply do not work effectively or offer any quality of support.

There is no greater public health issue than dementia. An increase in numbers from nearly 70,000 today to around 127,000 within a generation leaves us with no option but to prepare, plan and provide for increasing need and demand.

We can meet these needs – but we must act decisively and we must act now.

Enable people with dementia and their families to take control

This manifesto welcomes the creation of Scotland's first National Dementia Strategy and calls for a £15m Change Fund in order that support services can change and develop to better reflect the needs and concerns of people with dementia, their carers and countless families across Scotland. Current dementia services are not cost-effective as they often intervene too late, when the person involved has already reached crisis stage, and result in an approach which is largely crisis-led.

In the long term, we want to see a much greater move towards individual budgets and self-directed support. However, in the short to medium term, we need a real strengthening of services to support people at an earlier stage. This Change Fund would enable people with dementia and their families to take control of their legal, financial and care decisions and improve the quality of support they receive.

Alzheimer Scotland calls for the Scottish Government to:

• ensure the implementation of a comprehensive, adequately resourced dementia strategy through the development of local dementia strategies by allocating a £15 million Change Fund each year for the next five years to support the transformation of services
• mandatory dementia care training for all health and social care staff commissioning services and providing care for people with dementia
• increase funding for research into dementia causes, prevention, care and treatment. (research suggests that if the symptoms of dementia can be delayed by 5 years then the health and social care budget would be halved.

Local authorities to:

• commission specialist community dementia care services to improve the quality of life and standards of care for people with dementia
• put an end to large-scale tendering for generic services that include people with dementia