The Numbers
It has been estimated that there are approximately 560,000 people with dementia in England alone.¹ Dementia is estimated to account for 3% of all deaths ², but it is also estimated that four times as many people as this die with dementia.¹
People can live for many years with this illness, with the average time from diagnosis to death being 11-12 years ³; frequently the diagnosis may be made late in the illness, so that in some instances dementia may last as long as 20 years.
One of the main risk factors for dementia is age, and given the aging population in the United Kingdom, this means that the numbers of people suffering from dementia are estimated to rise more steeply in England, possibly to over 750,000 people by 2020.¹’4
Most people with dementia are cared for in their own family home during the early stages. Unpaid carers, (mostly female family members) provide the majority of care in the community, and in 2007 it is estimated that they saved the taxpayer some £5.4 billion each year.¹
The symptoms of dementia can also be found in people with advanced Parkinson's disease.
Given this scenario, and in conjunction with the national emphasis on people being given more choice about where they receive their health and social care and the expressed preferences of many people to have their health care delivered to them in their own family home, the benefits of a charity such as Hope for Home, with its stated objectives, seem both timely and appropriate.
REFERENCES
1. Knapp at al (2007) Dementia UK:Report to The Alzheimer’s Society, King’s College, London and London School of Economics and Political Science.
2. Office of National Statistics (2005) England and Wales – cause of death as stated on death certificates.
3. This period is shorter if people are diagnosed at a late stage of their disease, or if they get the disease at a time of life when their life expectancy is not long anyway.
4 Knapp M, Comas-Herrera A, Somani A and Banerjee S (2007) Dementia: International comparisons (report for the NAO).
