Rebecca Evans AM, Assembly Member for Mid and West Wales, has used questions to the First Minister to highlight the fact that – with the right support – people can live well with dementia.
In the weekly questions to First Minister Carwyn Jones, Mrs Evans said “It is possible to live well with dementia, but that relies on living in the right place with the right support,” adding that “long terms stays on hospital wards don’t deliver that.”
Mrs Evans asked the First Minister how he is ensuring that there are sufficient specialist dementia nursing beds across Wales to prevent extended and unnecessary hospital stays.
The First Minister responded: “We would prefer people with dementia to live in the community, rather than being confined to hospitals. For some people, of course, that is not possible, but, nevertheless, I think that that is the best way. We know that, with dementia, people are less confused when they are in an environment that they have been familiar with for some time. It is important that, where people are able to, they can live at home in an environment that they are familiar with. That certainly helps them as individuals.
“As for how we want to move forward with this, we have the 1000 Lives Plus methodology. Among the targets in that methodology are, for example, the improvement of care of individuals in the general hospital setting and in in-patient units, reducing lengths of stay and also, importantly, reducing the inappropriate use of antipsychotic medications in accordance with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
“It is about getting the balance right. We know that, historically, in the health service, there was, for many years, an emphasis on putting people in hospital for treatment. Now, of course, we live in an age where making sure that people are able to live in their homes and in their communities is more of a priority, and we must make sure that we get the balance right.”
Mrs Evans, who is a member of the Assembly’s Health and Social Care Committee, recently joined dementia campaigner and Stella and Gavin and Stacey star, Ruth Jones, to launch the Alzheimer Society’s Dementia Friends initiative.
Mrs Evans said: “Whilst the ultimate aim is to ensure that people are supported to live in their own home for as long as possible – in dementia friendly communities – for some people a nursing home will be the only viable option.
“For those individuals, we need to make sure that the provision is the best it possibly can be in order to promote wellbeing and a good quality of life.
“Places need to be available in sufficient numbers because a long wait on a hospital ward for a place to become available cannot be in the individual’s best interest.”
Thanks to funding from Welsh Government, Alzheimer’s Society is running a year-long pilot of their Dementia Friends programme in Wales. The trailblazing initiative aims to improve people’s understanding of dementia and its effects.
The charity hopes four thousand people in Wales will become Dementia Friends Wales by 2015. The move comes in a bid to make the country more dementia-friendly and improve the lives of the 45,500 people currently living with the condition.
If you are interested in becoming a Dementia Friend or helping create more communities that are dementia-supportive, go to dementiafriends.org.uk/wales to find your nearest information session or to volunteer as a Dementia Friends Champion.
