Latest News from Everycare
Seeing friends regularly lowers dementia risk, study suggests
Being socially active in your fifties and sixties lowers the risk of developing dementia in later life, according to new research.
Academics at University College London found that someone who saw friends almost daily at the age of 60 was 12 per cent less likely to develop dementia than someone who only saw one or two friends every couple of months.
Having an active social life “at any age may well have a similar impact on reducing dementia risk”, according to the researchers.
Socialising promotes the use of memory and language, which could help minimise the effect of dementia, according to Professor Gill Livingston, a senior author of the report.
She added: “People who are socially engaged are exercising cognitive skills such as memory and language, which may help them to develop cognitive reserve – while it may not stop their brains from changing, cognitive reserve could help people cope better with the effects of age and delay any symptoms of dementia.
Read more by visiting The Independent website.
A study of 2,000 people aged 65+, commissioned by the Connected Care Platform provider Anthropos, were asked why they kept it secret, with 26 per cent saying they can deal with any care issue themselves, 16 per cent don’t want to be labelled ‘vulnerable’ and 18 per cent don’t want to acknowledge they’re getting older.
Almost a third (29 per cent) of people aged 65+ have hidden their need for any type of care support from loved ones.
Secrets kept to avoid ‘burdening’ family
Thirty-nine per cent admitted they would keep their feelings a secret from loved ones to avoid burdening them.
These secrets aren’t just limited to falls; the other most common issues are reduced mobility, changes in toilet habits, forgetfulness, sleeping difficulties and loss of balance.
Jim Patience, chief executive of Anthropos, which focuses on passive falls detection without the use of wearable devices, said: “Considering there are 11 million people aged 65 and over, the research really brings home just how widespread these issues are. If we extrapolated these numbers across the whole of the UK, it could indicate that every year around 2.6 million people fall, with 686,000 people not telling anyone about it.
“It fits into the wider pattern we’ve found that so many older people are hiding care concerns. We hope adults of all ages consider how these findings may support gentle, sensitive conversations with the older people in their lives about all care matters, from falls to forgetfulness.”
In the early stage of dementia, the person will start to experience problems that affect their everyday living. The person may notice these early changes themselves, or they may first be recognised by their family, friends or colleagues. While some people may not think it is necessary to see their doctor at this stage, it’s important to do so as soon as possible so the right support can be put in place early on.
Signs
· increasing forgetfulness
· difficulty retaining new information
· getting lost in places that used to be familiar
· struggling with names
· misplacing things frequently
Cognitive ability
· difficulty understanding time and place, eg getting up in the middle of the night to go to work, even if they’re retired
· difficulty with choosing what to buy and paying when shopping
· struggling with decision-making and reasoning
· loss of interest in activities they used to enjoy
· restlessness, eg pacing, fidgeting and trying to leave the house
Communication
· struggling to find the right words
· repeating themselves often
· difficulty making and following conversation
· difficulty reading and writing
· becoming quieter and more withdrawn
· loss of interest in socialising
· loss of confidence
· changes in personality and behaviour
· mood swings, anxiety and depression
If anyone ever questioned the extent of the crisis in social care, this past few weeks you could not escape the terrifying truth. Two reports from the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee, a report from the Levelling Up Committee, updated workforce data from Skills for Care, plus a survey of NHS Leaders published by the NHS Confederation are all raising the alarm.
The ‘ravaged’ social care sector is experiencing the greatest workforce crisis in its history and this is having a devastating impact on quality of care, NHS waiting times and patient outcomes.
We are hearing from heartbroken care workers who feel they have no choice but to find better paid work elsewhere as the job has become too overwhelming.
The independent evaluation of government policy commissioned by the Health and Social Care Committee finds that the overall response to workforce issues to date has been inadequate.
The Committee chaired by Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP urges the government to increase annual funding for social care by £7 billion a year.
The NHS Confederation insists a £10.50 minimum care worker wage is needed to address the recruitment and retention crisis. But central government remain defiant – no more money.
We know that care workers who remain in the sector are overstretched, working overtime to deliver the complex care that’s needed in their communities. The pressures existed before the pandemic, they were exacerbated at its height, and now they’re worse than ever.
One in three care workers left their job last year
The Commons report paints a picture of a dire situation – one in three care workers left their jobs last year, 95 per cent of care providers are struggling to recruit staff, three quarters of care workers are paid below the Real Living Wage. Worse still, when travel time is taken into account, many home care workers are paid below the national minimum wage.
The government proudly insist they’ve invested £1 billion extra a year in social care without providing a breakdown of how this was spent and still their colleagues in the Commons say it’s not enough.
They have allowed local authorities to raise council tax but overall cuts to their budgets have been calculated at £15 billion over the last ten years. It simply doesn’t add up to an increase. This is gaslighting on an industrial scale.
Social care is a notoriously fragmented system, but for once everyone is in agreement. Without immediate action to fill 165,000 vacancies in social care, the impact will be felt in hospitals and homes across the UK.
Eighty-five per cent of healthcare leaders agreed that the absence of a social care pathway is the primary cause of delayed discharges of medically fit patients, and the latest monthly data tells us that there are 12,400 of these healthy patients stuck in hospital on any given day.
To read the full story visit homecare.co.uk
