Ordinarily, September is dominated for me by World Alzheimer’s Month (or World Dementia Month as I prefer to call it), which in practice means 30 days of sharing all of the great content, ideas and initiatives that lots of fantastic…
Tag: diagnosis
Delivering a dementia diagnosis
There are many times in a person’s life with dementia that are described as pivotal. Often these are the difficult, crisis occasions that create the negative narrative that is so commonly associated with dementia. But after my recent personal experiences…
Missing the morning chorus – Life with hearing loss
Hearing is one of the senses that I believe many people take for granted. I think the general assumption most of us make is that we are hearing everything, or at least everything we think we need to hear, and that…
Deprivation and dementia
When you consider the experience of living with dementia, I think it’s fair to say that if you are a wealthy person living in a leafy, affluent, secure location your experience of life with dementia will be different to a person…
Driving, dementia, and doing the right thing
Whenever dementia diagnosis is discussed, one of the major barriers that explains why people delay seeking a diagnosis is the fear of giving up driving. It is understandable and something I can relate to. I live in a very rural…
Why awareness of dementia isn’t enough
Dementia Awareness Week (#DAW2016) is arguably the most dementia-focused week of the year in the UK. It’s a time for launching initiatives, publications, products and services, and for charities, organisations and businesses to raise the profile of their work. Indeed,…
Supporting a person with anxiety
Anxiety is commonly mentioned as one of a raft of symptoms linked to the development and progression of dementia. It is thought that dementia can both exacerbate anxiety in those who have a history of being anxious, and also bring…
The ‘stages’ of dementia
I had a very refreshing conversation recently with someone running a care company about the ‘stages’ of dementia. In this person’s view, the way in which the medical model defines dementia by different stages isn’t helpful for a more human…
Spotting dementia
My last D4Dementia blog was all about remembering the person, and as World Alzheimer’s Month draws to a close for 2015, I want to tackle another theme from this month of awareness raising – spotting the signs of dementia. I’ve…
Holiday season
August in the UK is traditionally seen as the holiday month. Apart from the fact that most families with school-age children are restricted to holidaying at this time of year due to education regulations, there seems to be a mass…
Mind the gap
Dementia making the headlines isn’t anything new and today’s make for fairly depressing, albeit highly predictable, reading. Anyone currently involved in dementia care in the UK, be that as a person with dementia, a family member supporting/caring for a person…
Taking stock
Last weekend marked the 3rd anniversary of my dad’s death. Alongside remembering that immensely sad day, it also prompted a lot of reflection, both personally about dad’s life and the gap he has left behind, but also more generally about…
£55 to diagnose dementia
When the headlines first broke that GP’s in England are to be paid £55 to diagnose dementia, I have to admit I wasn’t surprised. Improving diagnosis rates has been the number one target since the 2009 National Dementia Strategy, and…