Dementia early warning.
Shops could play a valuable part in early warnings of dementia, according to the Express & Star, a Midlands newspaper.
The Express & Star editorial says that local health authority bosses have suggested that supermarket staff should be asked to look out for customers showing signs of dementia. We’re not quite sure how it would work in practice! Perhaps 5 reports and you get called into the doctor for a test! I might as well go now!
The suggestion came after it was reported that thousands of dementia sufferers in the Midlands may not have been diagnosed with dementia, including more than 2,000 in one borough alone.
Statistically, it would be expected that 3,450 people would suffer from dementia in Walsall. However, only just over one thousand people have been recorded as dementia sufferes by doctors. That is rather worrying, and clearly anything which could give early warning of dementia will improve treatment outcomes.
These statistics could be extrapolated to indicate that 70 per cent of dementia sufferers are not being treated. Nothings short of a disaster.
According to the Express & Start “That has prompted members of the borough’s health scrutiny committee to recommend that shop and supermarket staff should be trained to spot signs of the illness.
Committee chairman Councillor Marco Longhi said: “The larger supermarket chains see very large volumes of people. They are likely to see people coming through their doors who are showing signs of dementia.
“I’m sure we can work with supermarkets to ensure staff are trained in this area.””
Figures demonstrate that an extra ten percent has been added to the role of dementia sufferers over the previous year in the West Midlands the number of people being diagnosed with dementia rose by 2,100 over the last year from 25,600 to 27,700.
That suggests that 41,000 people in the West Midlands region alone have not been diagnosed despite the inevitable early warning dementia suffers show.
On a national basis, the number of people where dementia early warnings have not been heeded would be enough to fill a decent sized city. And that suffering could be reduced if it had been discovered, so an dementia early warning system has to be worth considering.
Our advice? Make sure Lasting Powers of Attorney are in place anyway, but if you get the slightest dementia early warning for dementia, click the link and contact us immediately.
