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.

The UK’s army of unpaid carers are left isolated, depressed and physically exhausted.

A poll recently undertaken by the Carers Trust has revealed that almost 60% of adult carers reported suffering mental health problems due to the strain of caring and other responsibilities they had.

Just over 25% experienced both physical and mental health problems, with muscular strains, insomnia and exhaustion also common complaints they had. Almost 60% said caring had damaged their careers.

The findings, sourced from a YouGov poll of 500 adults, will add further pressure on the Government to provide universal access to support services for Britain's 6 million unpaid Carers. The survey also found that almost 66% had never accessed counselling, respite  or even welfare support.

More than 1.5 million carers are aged over 60, and are often relied upon to move or lift immobile people and bathe, clothe and medicate their sick relatives.

It is also expected that by the year 2037, the number of carers is expected to rise to 9 million as a result of our ever increasing aging population and as a result of better survival rates from medical conditions etc.

Carer numbers

6m: 1 in 8 adults (around 6 million people) are Carers; this is expected to rise to 9 million by 2037

58% of Carers are women and 42% are men

3m: More than 3 million people juggle care with work and 20% are forced to give up work

50: 1.25 million people provide more than 50 hours of care each week

The 5 expensive obstacles encountered when finding a Care Home place

Many people are being let down on elderly care, as there are 5 expensive obstacles when finding a Care Home place

People have to overcome 5 expensive obstacles when they need to find a place for a family loved one in a care home, according to a recent report by the charity Independent Age.

The warning from the charity comes amid growing concern over how long-term care is funded.

Independent Age warns that families are let down in the following ways:

·         The care home means test, which says that anyone with savings or a home worth more than £23,250 must pay all their own fees, currently averaging £524 a week. The report called this ‘the worst means test in the welfare state’.

·         A failure of councils to give any help or advice to the families of people with more than £23,250 in assets. This can lead to damaging and expensive mistakes in choosing a care home.

·         Top-up fees. Councils pay an average of £452 a week for care home places. People in care homes which charge more are asked for top-ups, often unlawfully because councils try to pay less than their legal duty. In some cases better-off families are asked to pay top-ups of more than £300 a week. In all 55,000 families are paying top-ups.

·         Different costs in different places. For example, one Council pays no more than £451 a week for care home bills. But another council will cover costs of £952.50. The varying policies mean families in the wrong place can end up paying hundreds of pounds a week more in top-ups.

The Independent Age report said that local councils responsible for running the means test and paying for the care of those who pass it are exploiting families.

People whose fees are paid by the council are allowed to keep no more than £23.50 a week to pay for extras to brighten up their life in a care home. This is inadequate.

For many, the tiny allowance means they have to rely on families to pay for much of the cost of new clothes, hairdressing, books and magazines, dry cleaning, toiletries, dental care and spectacles, and even treats like sweets and chocolates.

Last year a report commissioned by David Cameron from economist Andrew Dilnot recommended that the care home means test threshold should be set at £100,000, and no one with less wealth should be made to pay their own fees.

It also said that there should be a cap on the amount that anyone should have to pay for their care, possibly set at £50,000. However the Prime Minister, has delayed making a decision on the report.

The Independent Age report said that local councils responsible for running the means test and paying for the care of those who pass it are exploiting families and leaving many of them confused over how the system operates.

Elderly should be treated at home instead of hospital.

Elderly patients could be treated at home rather than in hospital.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said that doctors should only admit the most seriously ill patients who would benefit from the highest levels of care. These proposals were made in late 2011 and were made amid fears that elderly people were routinely being ignored on NHS wards

The plans were unveiled as part of the NHS’s Operating Framework, which sets out the Government’s plans for the health service during 2012.

In these plans he promised to make the elderly the NHS’s utmost priority following a series of reports exposing harrowing neglect in hospitals. In one study by the Care Quality Commission it revealed that 20% of NHS trusts were treating older patients so bad they were breaking the law.

And that half of these hospitals weren’t meeting basic nutritional standards, as staff did not do enough to ensure the elderly didn’t go hungry or thirsty.

The plans also focussed on dementia patients, as they are often neglected by nurses who do not realise their illness can leave them incapable of eating, drinking or going to the toilet. Additionally, every patient with dementia must be looked after by at least one doctor or nurse who is properly trained in treating the condition.

Mr Lansley said: ‘We must see improvements for people with dementia, particularly in the care they get in hospitals. It will often be in their best interests to be treated at home.

Downsizing fears haunt the over-50s who fear they must sell to cover cost of living

The over-50s are fearful they will have to sell their family home to cope with the soaring cost of living, research revealed as long ago as August 2011.

20% worried they would have to ‘downsize’ to generate enough cash to pay all their bills, according to a report I found from Saga in August last year. The report is conducted and generated every 3 months.

In this report hey feared that the rising price of everything from necessities such as energy and food to petrol, as well as increased taxes and historic low interest rates will squeeze them to the point that they will have to choice but to sell up.

Additionally, many over 50s said that they had to pay out more and more to help their cash-strapped children and grandchildren.

Dr Ros Altmann, of Saga, which specialises in providing services for the over-50s, said at the time: ‘People are being forced to do things that they would have never considered doing before.

‘It is impacting on their quality of life. Selling their home is not what they would have expected or wanted to do.’

In a separate survey, by HomeLet, found that the number of homeowners aged between 66 and 70 who sold their houses and became tenants instead increased by 30% last year.

The Saga report canvassed 11,650 over-50s about their financial situation and lifestyle. And it highlights that grandparents are making sacrifices in order to support their younger relatives in the tough economic times. Approximately 33% said that they are paying for everything from their child’s mortgage to the weekly food shop – even though they are struggling to make ends meet themselves.

Having worked all their lives to buy their family home, many can no longer afford to own one.

Saga suggested that there could be a ‘lost generation’, who cannot find work but also need money to live, and also face living longer than ever but with poorer incomes to do so.