Dementia is a term used to describe a collection of symptoms including memory loss, problems with reasoning and communication, and a reduction in a person’s ability to carry out daily activities such as washing, dressing and cooking. The most common types of dementia are:
- Alzheimer’s disease,
- vascular dementia,
- mixed dementia and
- dementia with Lewy bodies.
Dementia is a progressive condition, which means that the symptoms will gradually get worse. This progression will vary from person to person and each will experience dementia in a different way – people may often have some of the same general symptoms, but the degree to which these affect each person will vary. There are approximately 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK. If current trends continue, this number is expected to increase to 1,143,000 by 2025.
Doncaster and dementia:
Doncaster has an estimated 3600 people with dementia. Of these there are approximately 2700 people with a formal diagnosis leaving 900 people without a diagnosis. Of the 2700 people with a diagnosis approximately 1800 people live at home and 900 are living in some form of residential care. Doncaster has a very good record of supporting people with obtaining a diagnosis and providing care and support once diagnosed however with a increasing demand and reducing budgets in the NHS and Social Care DonMentia has seen an increasing demand for help and support.
For information regarding dementia in Doncaster visit: https://dementiaroadmap.info/doncaster/#.XWYujZNKiYU
The local authority is feeling the pinch (as we all are) so we need donations to keep helping out and also funding for our research.