Health bosses close to launching new system for mental health helpline
An extra staff member will be added to take additional calls to the Mind mental health helpline, as health bosses hammer out the final details for a new service.
The helpline, which faced closure earlier this year due to a lack of funds, is being merged with the Wellbeing helpline as part of the region’s mental health trust’s Wellbeing Service after chiefs agreed to invest an uncon-firmed amount of money towards the service.
As part of the scheme the Wellbeing helpline, available to call-ers with less acute conditions than those who ring Mind’s helpline, will have its opening hours extended.
Both helplines are to operate under the same number, with staff from either helpline able to answer both sets of callers.
We need to talk about dementia – Dementia Awareness Week launches today
The numbers tell the story: almost two in every 100 people between 65 and 69 have dementia. Among those just 20 years older – 85 to 89 – that figure is one in five.
In Norfolk alone, up to 17,000 are affected. Over the next decade, that number is expected to double. It is a condition it is hard to escape.
Throughout Dementia Awareness Week, the EDP and Norwich Evening News will be highlighting ground-breaking research into the condition, focusing on how people can reduce their risk of developing it, and how our region can support those living with it.
Willie Cruickshank, director of the Norfolk and Suffolk Dementia Alliance, said the issue was one which should be a personal responsibility for every one of us.
“There is a reticence to talk about dementia but we need to start having these discussions,” he said.
