Alzheimer Scotland responds to 'Remember, I'm Still Me' and announcement of dementia strategy

Alzheimer Scotland supports the recommendations made by today’s report from the Mental Welfare Commission and Care Commission, Remember, I’m still me, and welcomes the government’s announcement of a dementia strategy for Scotland, which aims to address the problems the report raises. The report highlights a number of human rights issues in relation to the care and treatment of people with dementia in care homes. Problems identified in the report relate to a lack of positive activities for people with dementia, poor prescribing practices by GPs and a serious lack of staff training in dementia care.

'dignity, respect and liberty'

Henry Simmons, Chief Executive of Alzheimer Scotland, said, “People with dementia must be afforded dignity, respect and liberty within the care home setting. It is appalling that almost 50% of people in this report had no opportunity to go outside of the care home at any point. The study reported that only a small percentage of people with dementia have any freedom of movement or access to positive activities. This is as great a detriment to their quality of life as inappropriate medication or inadequately trained staff. These problems should not be tolerated and cannot be allowed to continue."

“We welcome the government’s announcement of a forthcoming dementia strategy for Scotland. Alzheimer Scotland is currently undertaking a large-scale consultation of people with dementia and their carers. We will ensure that the results of this inform the development of what we hope will be a comprehensive strategy, with the necessary investment to make it truly successful in meeting the needs of the many people affected by dementia across Scotland.”

'many GPs ignore the rights of people with dementia'

“In relation to the report, we are particularly disturbed that the inappropriate prescribing of anti-psychotics continues to take place in Scotland’s care homes. These drugs are often wrongly used to control the behaviour of people with dementia and have extremely harmful side effects. This study confirms that many GPs ignore the rights people with dementia have under the Adults with Incapacity Act 2000 and fail to comply with its requirements to assess whether they have the ability to give consent to treatment and consult with family members. We estimate that inappropriate prescribing of anti-psychotics costs Scotland between £5 million and £8 million per year.”

“It is also completely unacceptable that people with dementia are not receiving satisfactory care due to inadequate staff training. Alzheimer Scotland raised this issue with the Minister for Public Health last year, highlighting the key difficulties arising when nurse managers in care homes lack dementia care training needed to provide necessary leadership and support to their staff. All staff caring for people with dementia need a basic understanding of the illness and training in how best to provide care to people who can become agitated and distressed. This training will require significant investment, but the longer-term savings would be considerable, especially in regards to reducing inappropriate use of powerful anti-psychotic drugs.”

'Let's get personal - personalisation and dementia.' Dementia Awareness Week Conference 2009

Alzheimer Scotland’s national conference, Let’s get personal – personalisation and dementia (1-2 June, Edinburgh Marriott Hotel, http://www.alzscot.org/pages/daw-conference-2009.htm) will focus on the importance of improving the quality of life of people with dementia in residential care during its morning session on Tuesday 2 June. This includes a presentation from Dr Donny Lyons (Mental Welfare Commission) and Susan Brimelow (Care Commission) on this report.