Author Archives: wendy

Dementia care in Japan is being solved through volunteer schemes

November 18, 2014   Carers, dementia, Featured Article

Community projects, such as open houses which provide all-day care, are innovative and low-cost
Mayumi Hayashi, King’s College London

Guardian Professional,

4.6 million people in Japan are living with dementia. Photograph: Franck Robichon/EPA

With the world’s fastest ageing population where one in four are over 65 and there are 4.6m people (15% of the older population) living with dementia, Japan is struggling to find sustainable and affordable solutions. With the world’s highest level of debt – 230% of national GDP – these solutions to the challenge of dementia must be both innovative and cost-effective.

While political leaders take the stage in Tokyo to promote their “big” dementia policies, at ground level grassroots initiatives are helping to make communities dementia friendly. Central government is beginning to take notice, appreciate and even promote these volunteer-led examples of dementia care and support. This positive response reflects the overriding economic pressures and concerns – to defuse the “ticking time-bomb” of dementia.

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Norfolk and Suffolk mental health patients in beds miles from home

November 15, 2014   Carers, Featured Article, mental health, Norfolk, stigma

By Nic Rigby and Nikki Fox BBC News

Up to 50 mental health patients in Norfolk and Suffolk had to be sent to other parts of England last week because of a shortage of beds and a shortfall in funding.

In June Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt criticised the “unacceptable” distances Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT) patients had to travel for beds.

The NSFT said the trust was committed to cutting the use of out-of-area beds.

It cut the number from 34 to six by September, but it has gone up to 50.

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We can transform wheelchair services by listening to patients

November 13, 2014   Carers, disability, Featured Article

Will the opinions of wheelchair users being made public change NHS commissioning and improve disabled people’s lives?

  • Ruth Owen and Neil Bacon
  • Guardian Professional,
  • The delivery of wheelchair services has received little attention among health commissioners.
Photograph: Uwe Anspach/DPA/Corbis

Unbelievably, there are an estimated 70,000 disabled children in the UK whose physical mobility needs, and subsequently their ability to develop skills needed for adulthood, are not being met.

Historically the delivery of wheelchair services has suffered from delays and received little attention among health commissioners. Right now, we know that wheelchair services are not often focused on providing mobility equipment that will give users independence.

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