Dementia: Communicate to educate

The G8 Dementia Summit has brought the emerging ‘plague’ of modern times into sharp focus as world leaders add their weight to fighting this frightening illness.

But should it really take a meeting of world leaders to bring this home to us? The numbers of those suffering has been staggeringly worrying for years and the rising figures just get worse according to all forecasts.

In the UK, about £590m is spent on cancer research compared with £52m of government resource into dementia research. The government has now said it aims to double its annual research funding to £132m by 2025 from an original commitment of £66m.

At local level, why hasn’t the NHS and the government committed more resource not only for research but to communicating good information about dementia?

In these days of rapid communications, here is an issue which needs support through the diverse channels used by us all, whether online or offline, in the local GP surgery or on Twitter, using posters, good literature or on local NHS websites.

At Freshfield, our healthcare team regularly sees the benefits of good information, delivered in a relevant format to the people who need it.

Communicating the dangers, what can be done to help avoid it, the signs to look for and a realistic picture of it is crucial to living with this shocking illness.

The communication of sound information around this subject would be welcomed, just as we strive to understand more about cancer.

The intelligent education of the public should be part of the government’s healthcare policy. Surely a relevant communications campaign which educates the public is more effective than playing catch-up in the health system later down the line with medication and treatment?