Today at 12.30pm, the Scottish Parliament’s Cross Party Group on Alzheimer’s disease will launch the Charter of Rights for People with Dementia and their Carers in Scotland. This will take place in the Garden Lobby of the Scottish Parliament.

The Charter is needed for a number of important reasons, including:

• the nature of the illness means that people with dementia have great difficulty in protecting their own rights;
• there is still much stigma and discrimination against people with the illness;
• people with dementia don’t have equal access to high quality dementia care services;
• support for those who care for people with dementia is often overlooked, so that their health suffers with the stress of caring.

We hope that the Charter will empower people with dementia, those who care for them and the professionals who work to help them. You can read the Charter and register your support at www.dementiarights.org

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The report found that there was no standard system for the care of people with dementia attending NHS A&E. This is compounded by a lack of knowledge about the disease which is hampering appropriate treatment being given for the illness or accident that brought the person into A&E.

The report recommends:

• an urgent, physical and psychological assessment for all older people with apparent confusion in A&E to be undertaken in order to assist with diagnosis and where possible identify whether the person may have dementia.
• all staff in A&E trained in how to care for people with dementia once identified.
• a “flag” system to raise awareness of the need for care as the patient moves through the system and meets dozens of new faces.
• health and social services to work together to prevent admission in the first place e.g. implementation of measures for fall prevention, and to manage care in the community which should include rapid access to diagnostic testing and consultant services if necessary.
• environmental and staff attitude changes to reduce unnecessary medication and interventions to people with dementia in general hospitals. A dementia trained nurse attached to every hospital would facilitate this.
• doing everything possible to reduce the multiples moves and interactions with staff that are so distressing and harmful to people with dementia.

Full Report and recommendations: People with dementia in NHS Accident & Emergency

Cross Party Group on Alzheimer’s disease (Link to Scottish Parliament website)