Disabled People: Dementia

Lord Laming Excerpts

Monday 11th October 2010 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

The noble Lord, Lord Ashley, as so often, is absolutely right. Those who have dementia and also suffer from sensory impairment have a particularly difficult time. That is why we have signalled, in the recently revised operating framework for the NHS, that improving dementia care will be a priority. However, the noble Lord may also like to know that we have today published a Written Ministerial Statement, which he can read in Hansard, showing that we aim to accelerate the pace of improvement in four ways in particular: by improving early diagnosis and intervention; by improving care in hospitals; by improving the care of dementia patients in care homes; and by reducing the use of anti-psychotic medications. Those are the four priorities that we think will make the most difference.

[Lord Laming]

My Lords, can the Minister inform the House what steps the Government are taking to ensure an adequate supply of community-based nurses who have been specially trained in dementia care, not least to support carers?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, an informed and effective workforce is clearly central to the delivery of the dementia strategy. The Department of Health has recently published reports which map the current level of training, and these have been widely disseminated to key bodies involved in providing education and training. Professor Alistair Burns, who is the National Clinical Director for Dementia, is chairing an advisory group that will aim to ensure the development of proper education and training for all staff involved, and he will be engaging with all the key organisations in doing so.

Health: Dementia

Lord Laming Excerpts

Thursday 3rd June 2010 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

We are looking at the implementation plan at the moment. I say to my noble friend that there are perhaps four key dementia priorities for us. One is promoting awareness and early diagnosis and referral; the second is the care of people in hospital; the third is the care of those in care homes; and the fourth is a reduction in the use of anti-psychotic medication. That is not to say that the other objectives are trivial—by no means—but we think that these will yield the most tangible results in the shorter term.

[Lord Laming]

My Lords, does the noble Earl accept that we are all familiar with frequent reports of research into other diseases, but much less so with research reports into dementia? Will he keep in mind the importance of developing more effective research into this growing problem?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, we will be giving increased priority to dementia research. The work of the Ministerial Advisory Group on Dementia Research, in which the noble Baroness, Lady Greengross, is playing an important part, is key to that. The group is time-limited but very focused. We anticipate that once it has completed its work the dementia research community will be better positioned to compete successfully for available funding opportunities.