{"id":2534,"date":"2019-04-15T10:31:37","date_gmt":"2019-04-15T10:31:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/?p=2534"},"modified":"2019-04-15T10:31:39","modified_gmt":"2019-04-15T10:31:39","slug":"dementia-is-the-uks-biggest-health-concern-how-should-the-social-care-green-paper-address-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/?p=2534","title":{"rendered":"Dementia is the UK\u2019s biggest health concern \u2013 how should the social care Green Paper address it?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With numerous\ndelays to the publication of the social care green paper, everyone in the\nhealth and social care industry has had ample time to truly consider what\nshould be in the long-awaited document. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government\nhas consistently skirted around the problem of two entirely separate health and\nsocial care systems, where families don\u2019t know the support they\u2019re entitled to\nand services don\u2019t know which system should take responsibility for care for\nlong-term health conditions like dementia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the government\nis still unclear on what needs to happen, then it\u2019s up to us to put forward the\nchanges that we would like to see. The green paper has the potential to provide\na shift to an environment which has so far only seen aspirational documents\ncoming to the fore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. To acknowledge the true scale of dementia <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Firstly, the document needs to truly acknowledge the scale of long-term health conditions like dementia. The NHS Long Term Plan only made a couple of cursory references to dementia, however, we need this document to go a lot further. We need dementia to be seen as more than just an afterthought for the families and health and social care workers dealing with its challenges. This can either be through its own subsection, detailing strategies and targets for families, or reference to it wherever applicable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. To provide a roadmap pre and post diagnosis<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

A key issue\nfor families facing dementia is not knowing what services and support are\navailable for them to turn to. Families should have a clear roadmap for each\nstep of the way, from diagnosis of dementia to end of life care, and this can\nbe a key part of the strategy stated above. More investment should be provided\nfor timely advice and signposting to the appropriate services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government needs to build up more awareness of roles like dementia specialist Admiral Nurses, whose numbers are increasing throughout the UK, to help families facing dementia cope during the toughest times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. To have the proper funding arrangements in place<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Proper funding arrangements must be set out in the green paper which identify how it will provide for families with dementia in the long term. We either need a taxation system which clearly ringfences money for health and social care or a long-term insurance system, as in Japan, to provide the necessary security as we age. Laying the foundations for systems like this will not only help to bolster services but also fuel more jobs and innovation within health and social care. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. To bridge the gap between health and social care <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

We also need\nto truly bridge the gap between health and social care and this document has a\nprime opportunity to do just this. To put this into perspective, the Department\nof Health and Social Care rarely talks about social care within the NHS. A key\npart of this should be the focus on preventative health measures, which an\nincrease in community support would provide. This can take many forms, such as\nexercise or gardening classes, which get people talking to others in addition\nto preserving healthy lifestyles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst the\nNHS Long Term Plan should be lauded for its policy shift towards more community\nsupport, we need to ensure that these proposals are sustainable to help\nfamilies in the long-term. More local initiatives and programmes can provide\nthe answer but are nothing without a commitment to the long-term funding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Families with\ndementia urgently need clarity, compassion and respect. As professionals\nworking in dementia care, we know what families should have in place to support\nthem and it\u2019s high time the government did too. The government has a real\nopportunity to get this right \u2013 to both support families facing dementia, and\nto build a wider society replete with jobs and the right funding models for a\npopulation ageing with dementia. <\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With numerous delays to the publication of the social care green paper, everyone in the health and social care industry has had ample time to truly consider what should be in the long-awaited document. The government has consistently skirted around the problem of two entirely separate health and social care systems, where families don\u2019t know […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":2535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1395,1476,1396],"tags":[1596],"coauthors":[1595],"class_list":["post-2534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-comment","category-health","category-uk","tag-dementia"],"amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Dementia-is-the-UKs-biggest-health-concern-\u2013-how-should-the-social-care-Green-Paper-address-it-gina-lin-1167578-unsplash-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2534"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/politicalquarterlyblog.preliveweb.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=2534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}