A new test could fast-track diagnosis of Dementia

Diagnosis times for dementia could be cut to a few weeks as a new test could fast-track diagnosis of Dementia.

The pilot project based in Sussex will use high tech memory tests and brain scans to spot the condition at a specialist clinic.

Currently, it can take months or perhaps even years for Alzheimer’s to be spotted and diagnosed via GP tests. And that is in order to get a specialist referral.

The newly announced pilot project based in Sussex will adopt and use a series of high tech memory tests and brain scans to spot the condition.

If all this proves successful, then it could see such 'high tech centres' rolled out nationwide to identify and spot dementia early on. So that patients can receive the right drugs and help when coping and dealing with the condition. GPs will also be given iPad apps in order to test a patient’s memory.

Additionally, a mobile diagnosis vehicle will also be trialled to provide dementia assessments outside local GP surgeries, so that people get the most up to date treatment on their doorstep. Apparently, there are more than 350,000 people currently living with undiagnosed dementia and who are left without any care or support.

It is estimated that by the year 2020 there will be almost 1 million people who have dementia. That is an increase of almost 50% based on the current level of 670,000.

This new pilot project is part of the Government backed “Biomedical Catalyst” that has been awarded to a number of businesses and universities to help find new ways of tackling health issues and problems.

Britain's biggest Care Home owners 'have £5 billion debts'

I read last week that Britain's biggest Care Home owners 'have £5 billion debts'

Some of the biggest private Care Home owners in the UK have combined debts of almost £5 billion.

And I read again days later, that this had led to concerns from residents families about the financial viability of the companies that are looking after literally thousands of elderly and disabled people.

This investigation established that the debts of 3 of the firms, which apparently own almost 800 homes, have been rated as risky by credit companies. This is over concerns on how they could pay off the money in a tough economic climate.

But forgive me if I sound a preacher, but I do recall the news last year about how care homes would now be forced to be more clear and transparent about all their finances. This of course was after the Southern Cross collapse and fallout.

Apparently this investigation was partly created by the NfP body Corporate Watch. So I ask myself, if it weren’t for this NfP body called Corporate Watch making the findings, how easy is it exactly for local authorities and resident’s families to get a clear, proper understanding and assessment of the underlying risks that some leading Care Home providers are facing. Because I can now see from this report that they have some pretty hefty loan arrangements.

This report also discovered that 5 of the Care Home firms are in fact owned by parent companies based in secretive offshore tax havens.

And of course within recent years there has been significant expansion of large private companies within this sector, whilst council-run Care Homes have decreased.

This is what others had to say on the subject:

Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said: “It is absolutely essential that individuals have access to clear information about the strengths and liabilities of organisations looking after their mums and dads.

“The Government said it will legislate soon on social care and it is essential that it learns the lessons of Southern Cross, puts some stability into this market as the current high-rolling, high-risk economics we see is not compatible with the care of elderly people.”

Michelle Mitchell of Age UK said: “This is a major concern and we are calling on the Government to ensure that Monitor, the NHS Financial Regulator, is given a duty to assess the financial viability of care providers and, where necessary, the powers to ensure compliance.”

The Department of Health announced that a public consultation about financial regulation would begin soon.

True or not? The Willis Commission report says NHS patients get 'unacceptable' care from nursing assistants.

NHS patients are receiving an "unacceptable" level of care from unqualified healthcare assistants who are now responsible for nursing tasks in care homes, an independent commission reported.

Healthcare assistants are employed in order to carry out simple tasks such as keeping patients fed and hydrated and taking a temperature. But these healthcare assistants are not currently trained to identify and spot warning signs such as dehydration or changes in body heat.

The Willis Commission led by Lord Willis of Knaresborough, a Liberal Democrat peer, published these findings in the report in early November.

One of the report’s findings is that patients families do not always recognise the difference between nurses and unqualified healthcare staff and sometimes follow the advice of healthcare assistants without even realising they have no nursing expertise. The report also recommended that all healthcare assistants should be trained to at least NVQ level 3 in order to help deal with the issues and concerns on wards and in care homes.

The commission also announced in the report that it was unacceptable that staff whose competence is not regulated or monitored are caring for vulnerable citizens. And that it was equally unacceptable that registered nurses must take responsibility for supervising colleagues on whose competency they cannot rely. In 2011, the NHS in England employed more than 53,000 Healthcare Assistants, and numbers are increasing by 6% each year.

Figures released in October 2012 revealed that 43 hospital patients had starved to death and 11 died of thirst due to failures in the most basic levels of care on hospital wards, whilst 78 died from bedsores.

The report also calls for measures to improve the quality of placements undertaken by student nurses, and for newly qualified nurses to be given extra support during their first year.

A Department of Health spokesman said: "Public confidence is really important, however in the case of healthcare assistants, there is no evidence that compulsory regulation would lead to higher standards.

"They are supervised by professionally qualified staff, and often by experienced nurses. Regulation does not, in itself, change culture and is no substitute for proper performance management, good leadership and day to day high quality patient care."

It was also announced that a code of conduct and minimum training standards for healthcare support workers will be drawn up and created by January 2013.