Dementia Services (Gloucestershire)

Debate between Rebecca Harris and Norman Lamb

Tuesday 22nd January 2013 Westminster Hall

[Norman Lamb]

I think that the hon. Gentleman said in his earlier intervention that the diagnosis rate is quite good in Northern Ireland. I applaud the work that is done there, but the support services might not be as good as in some parts of England, Wales and Scotland. We are learning about these things together, and there must be close collaboration between England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. Scotland has done good work to achieve high diagnosis rates. It has also introduced the concept of dementia advisers, which my hon. Friend the Member for Gloucester talked about in relation to his county. We need to be willing to learn from anywhere and, critically, not to reinvent the wheel, so I am absolutely up for collaboration with colleagues in Northern Ireland. Just a week ago, the Secretary of State announced a year of dementia awareness to improve understanding of the condition and diagnosis rates nationally.

Let me deal with research. My hon. Friend the Member for Gloucester said that the Government are doubling the amount we spend on research, although it must be said that that is coming from quite a low base, compared with other conditions. One of the difficulties is that we cannot just make a massive increase to the amount that we spend, because building the research community’s capacity to do the work has to happen hand in hand with any increase.

There were several things I was unable to cover in detail during the recent debate granted by Backbench Business Committee because we ran out of time—my hon. Friend was a victim of that. One of them was research, on which we have genuine cause for optimism. A lot of the media narrative has been about high-profile failures of research, but there is positive and encouraging news out there.

Before I give some examples of that, however, I should mention one thing. My hon. Friend talked about the importance of the scientific community and the Government collaborating closely to meet the challenge we face. Last autumn, I spoke at a conference that brought scientists from not just the UK, but around the world, together with the Government and interest groups, such as charities that campaign on this issue. Such a useful gathering is a way of bringing the best brains to bear on this subject, so that collaborative work must continue.

On 21 December, the Government made £22 million available to 21 pioneering research projects to boost dementia diagnosis rates and to trial groundbreaking treatments. The funding was designed to cover all areas of scientific activity that are relevant to dementia across the fields of care, cause and cure, including prevention. For example, we can do a lot to prevent the condition of vascular dementia from ever starting, so if prevention is possible, we must be much smarter. We have also provided £36 million for a new National Institute for Health Research dementia research collaboration to work on better treatments and care for, and understanding of, the condition, as well as £9.6 million to expand the UK Biobank. Last year there were potentially interesting developments in treating early-stage dementia, particularly in Alzheimer’s disease.

As drug companies continue to invest in research, there is now a real prospect of a treatment within the next decade—that seems to be the time frame we are dealing with—that could have an impact on helping to slow or prevent the disorder, if it is caught early enough. For instance, there have been key recent developments from Eli Lilly, which is conducting an additional phase 3 study of a new drug for patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease. I have also heard about promising plans to expand the testing of a drug for patients with pre-dementia.

My hon. Friend rightly emphasised the importance of sharing best practice, of avoiding reinventing the wheel and of encouraging innovation, which is vital for improving dementia care. I am delighted that Gloucestershire benefited from the additional funding of £10 million from NHS South West. It is by learning from the innovative projects that he describes that we will find out what works and how we can improve services.

My hon. Friend asked me to highlight examples of best practice of people taking the lead on dementia. One involves the fire and rescue service, which has made a pledge to take action to increase the safety of people with dementia. That is a critical area, because someone living with dementia can be at risk, and the fire and rescue service can do a lot to help them to remain safe. The service has made a commitment to raising awareness among staff. Already 28 services have signed up, and I applaud them for that work. In addition, Tesco has made a commitment to increase dementia awareness and understanding among its staff and worked with the Alzheimer’s Society to produce a DVD to achieve that. The moment when a customer gets confused about change or forgets their PIN is the one when a caring and understanding approach from the checkout operator who is coping with them is particularly important. It is encouraging that companies such as Tesco are prepared to do such work.

When my hon. Friend mentioned the demographics in his constituency, that rang true for me, because my constituency, similarly, is rural with an elderly population. I am pleased that the diagnosis rate in Gloucester has risen from 40% to more than 45% in the past year but, as in many places, there is still massive room for improvement to match the best performing areas, such as Islington, where the diagnosis rate is 75%. There is an enormous gap between the best and the worst, and a long way to go. We have developed an analytical tool to support the NHS to achieve an increase in local diagnosis rates, and we are working with the Royal College of Psychiatrists to assure and improve the quality of memory services when the actual diagnosis takes place.

I join my hon. Friend in paying tribute to some of the excellent work in his area, which is in many ways mirrored by that of the Norfolk and Suffolk Dementia Alliance, which is led by an inspiring guy called Willie Cruickshank. He demonstrates the difference that can be made by bringing all parts of the system together. In his area, there is now a comprehensive, multidisciplinary memory assessment service that provides support to primary care and outreach to communities. We must ensure that we bring down waiting times, which are far too long in some areas.

Community dementia nurses and advisers are working closely with GPs throughout the country. Last week, I met a group called Uniting Carers, which is part of Dementia UK, which talked about the fantastic work of Admiral nurses in many parts of the country.

[Rebecca Harris]

Sometimes the problem for carers arises when they reach the point at which they admit that they can no longer look after their loved one who has dementia, because it can be difficult to choose the right kind of care home or environment. The gap at such a point might need to be filled by the voluntary sector or Admiral nurses, as the Minister was describing, to help people to ensure that they are putting their loved one into a suitable and dementia-friendly environment.

[Norman Lamb]

I absolutely agree, and that is a role for an Admiral nurse or equivalent, or for dementia advisers, who are now in place in Gloucestershire, my own county of Norfolk, Suffolk and other parts of the country. It is of real value if someone is able to go into the home to provide practical advice to the carer and the person with dementia.

Fantastic work is ongoing to bring district councils, volunteers and community groups together to establish a network of memory cafés. The care home support team supports staff with training, development and management guidance. There is county-wide education for carers and a carer emergency respite scheme, which provides an agreed plan of personal support to the cared-for person.

My hon. Friend the Member for Gloucester raised the important issue of ethnic minorities and faith groups. At last week’s meeting, I met an Indian woman who spoke movingly about how she and her father were cast aside by their local community once he had received a diagnosis of dementia. It is critical that stigma is challenged in all communities. She also explained how her father had reverted to his mother tongue, which further complicated his care arrangements and made a difficult situation more difficult.

I want to consider how we can give specific help to people such as that woman. There is a role for everyone in society to improve the lives of people with dementia, which includes faith, community, and black and minority ethnic groups and charities. My hon. Friend is aware of the plan to sign up 1 million dementia friends by 2015, which will have dramatic effect on spreading awareness throughout the community. All such groups have a role to play in creating the dementia-friendly communities we want to see. Only through all of society—not just government—coming together will we improve the lives of people with dementia and their carers.

Regarding my hon. Friend’s kind invitation to visit, he may be interested to know that the Secretary of State and I are between us embarking on a road show to every region in the country, involving conferences and visits, to bring people together to drive change at a local level. I will certainly pass on my hon. Friend’s suggestions to the team that is planning the visits and the south-west regional event, and I will ensure that he is kept updated.

I am encouraged by the commitment shown in Gloucestershire, as in other parts of the country, to tackle the problems that we face. I was pleased to hear that Gloucestershire county council had ring-fenced funding for social care so that money is prioritised in that most critical of areas. We are expecting an announcement soon on funding for and reform of social care, and that will start to help people to cope with dementia and the costs incurred as a result of it. Although the challenge remains great, the collaborative effort demonstrated by the NHS and its partners in Gloucestershire, including businesses, community groups and volunteers throughout the county, is showing how concrete steps can be taken to improve dementia services and to enhance the day-to-day lives of people with dementia and, crucially, their carers.