Dementia Awareness Week, the annual awareness campaign organised by the Alzheimer’s Society, begins on Saturday 19th May 2012. It is an opportunity to increase people’s understanding of dementia and to remember that there’s more to a person than the disease.
The Alzheimer’s Society hope to make this year’s Dementia Awareness Week the most successful yet in Wales, with several events being held in or near Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan:
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Browsing the information stands at last year's event
There are almost six million carers in the UK, with 1.25 million people providing care for 50 hours a week or more. These are just two of the statistics provided by the organisers and promoters of Carers’ Week 2012, which will run from 18th to 24th June.
This year’s theme is ‘In Sickness and in Health’, which aims to highlight how the health and well-being of carers is paramount; how cuts to local services have a knock-on effect on the health and well-being of unpaid carers; and how recognition by professionals can help to make a massive difference.
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Funding for research into dementia is to be doubled to £66m by 2015 to try to make the UK a world leader in the field, David Cameron has announced.
Dementia is thought to affect around 800,000 people in the UK, with the cost to society estimated at £23bn. In the next decade, the number with the disease is expected to top one million.
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People with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease are often prescribed the drug donepezil, also known as Aricept, to reduce symptoms in the early to middle stages of their illness. However, a recent study has concluded that donepezil is still continuing to be beneficial to people in the later stage of the disease.
Professor Robert Howard of King’s College London Institute of Psychiatry, who led the study, said: “For the first time, we have robust and compelling evidence that treatment with these drugs can continue to help patients at the more severe stages. Patients who continued taking donepezil were about four months ahead in how they were able to remember, communicate and perform daily tasks than those who stopped taking the drugs”.
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Crossroads Care and the Princess Royal Trust for Carers have announced their intention to merge.
Plans have been approved by both boards after a programme of full due diligence. Subject to remaining formal and regulatory steps, the new charity will be operational from April 2012. A name for the new organisation is yet to be chosen and a chief executive to be appointed. A public launch date will soon be announced.
The Princess Royal has agreed to be President of the new charity, a role she has held at the Trust since it was formed in 1991. The charity will have the combined strengths of both Crossroads Care and the Princess Royal Trust. Forming a new charity will provide oportunities to launch increased services and fundraising initiatives, and to reach more carers.
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