Dementia costs increase as Staffordshire calls for better support

And although the number of people suffering from dementia continues to rise, only a fraction of funding goes towards research and treatment into the disease. Cabinet Member for Adults and Wellbeing, Matthew Ellis, says the news is a wakeup call,

“Dementia currently costs £23 billion each year in the UK, but it’s the costs met by unpaid carers and long term institutional care that carry the heaviest burden. This shows how much of the responsibility is shouldered by carers, the voluntary sector and local council tax payers. And although we’ve introduced a number of services to help support people with dementia here in Staffordshire, more needs to be done to help tackle this issue for the longer term.”

Reminiscence sessions and a network of cafes to support carers and their relatives are just some of the successful initiatives introduced by Staffordshire over the last couple of years. Staffordshire’s groundbreaking approach to providing dementia-related services was also recognised at last year’s European Social Services Conference in Prague.

Matthew added:

“I’d like to see local authorities working together more closely and adopting a more consistent approach to this issue. Government in general also needs to do more to support and listen to carers – who absorb much of the financial burden that would otherwise sit with the public purse."