Dementia

Wow Carolpaint....you’ve stirred a hornets nest! I too paid a full stamp for 51 working years....know how you feel ...but still, WOW!

I believe that people suffering from dementia can claim careers allowance, attendance allowance and they don’t have to pay council tax. However I agree why should people have to sell their homes to fund social care.
My mum had Alzheimer’s and did eventually have to go into care, all of her state and private pension had to go to help fund that care. Fortunately she had transferred ownership of her house into my name about 10yrs prior to being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. At the time I did wonder why she did it but she maybe had foresight!

It is medical. Nobody goes into care because they fancy a little rest. The more of us who highlight this - the more motivation for research. Looking after people with various dementias is a huge and profitable industry - so the home and care establishment have a strong interest in there being no progress.

Thank you NannyWaffles, at last. Am getting irritated with these comments re working hard all your lives and having to sell homes, not taking a day of sick blah blah. The NHS is not a bottomless pit of money, nor is Social Services, if you have worked so hard where is the money to pay for your old age? Where are the pensions you should have earned? If anyone bleats about only paying the woman's stamp I will add that as one who paid a full stamp, you that did not, ought not to have an old age pension you did not pay into the pot nor pay the NHS contribution.

Dementia is a terminal illness and once the symptoms increase to an assessed level then it IS funded as such.

Dementia is a terminal illness and should be funded as such. My late husband's death certificate states dementia as cause of death. He worked from age 15 to 65 and had never had a sick note and, therefore, never needed sick pay. He had dementia for eleven years and I had to pay for his care. After his death I was asked to repay some state pension they said had been overpaid!

The facts is that it is not the 'condition' that qualifies the person for this type of funding. It's how the condition is affecting the person. For instance not everyone with a cancer diagnosis gets this funding only those whose symptoms are severe enough. The same is true for dementia and all other conditions.

My 95 year old mother was diagnosed with Alzheimers/dementia 2 years ago and was cared for by my 94 year old father, with very little in the way of assistance. In May she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer too. Since this diagnosis, she has had far better medical support - especially from the hospice nurses. I suppose that, for her cancer, they can at least offer pain relief (and would operate if she was younger). No treatment/cure for dementia, sadly.

A friend with a particularly difficult form of dementia was placed into a care home. They were unable to keep him safe and returned him to a hospital dementia unit like a lost dog to Battersea Dogs Home.

My friend's wife has now received a bill for the ten days of inadequate care he was given at this so-called care home. She's going to pay it because she cannot face the fight but it's atrocious that having never been a burden to the NHS before, or taken any state benefits, the NHS is definitely not there for him.

It isn't just dementia patients, though. My sister was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour in February. She was discharged from the hospital consultant, her GP surgery said they didn't provide any services for terminal patients, and the local hospice wouldn't take her because she probably wouldn't die within the week. She ended up in a care home that wasn't altogether caring, worrying about how she was going fund her care if she lived more than six weeks. Sadly, she didn't even reach that six weeks. She died after less than 24 hours of hospice care. And yes, I'm angry.

My heart goes out to everyone dealing with this. I had a friend developed vascular dementia at 53 and within two years had to move into a care home. Because her family were on benefits and renting a home they had nothing to pay towards care. Two other friends ended up in care homes and both had to sell homes they’d worked hard for all their lives to fund their care. The care homes were both rubbish, staffed with teenagers who were on minimum wage and couldn’t care less about the patients. It’s what we all dread ourselves as we get older. I hope I have the courage to end it myself if I find I’m going down that route.

My H had dementia, a severe stroke and finally a terminal cancer diagnosis.
We were never even considered for funding although we did get a small contribution from SS .
I am still being asked for the fees due for his last month, for which he was in hospital for 3 weeks and 4 days.

I am contesting it but don't expect to win.

My mum is in care with dementia and I actually have a 57 page report from SS saying that there is no way she could live alone but no offer of support. She pays £1000 a week and had to sell her home.

This is something that I have been very aware of for some time; my DM has dementia and is in a care home. Dementia UK define dementia as an umbrella term for a range of progressive conditions that affect the brain. How can this not be an illness? GNs posting here are right - it's all about funding.....

I think it is for historic reasons, senile decay, as it was called, was seen as a natural part of aging (people died younger, so it was relatively rare) so no more

It has been convenient for governments since then to stick to that view and ignore the research findings of the last 40 years that have shown so clearly that dementia, of all kinds is the result of physical changes caused by specific disease processes.

Having said that - when you consider the cost of caring for all those with dementia, I can see why governments blench at finding all in one go the many £ billions annually to fund this care. It would probably need almost all taxes to rise by 10% in one go.

That would include income tax, VAT, corporation tax and all the others.

It seems that Dorset has the highest numbers of dementia/alzheimers sufferers in the UK as 28 in every 1,000 had the disease in 2017.

As more of us live longer it is inevitable that there will be an increasing number of sufferers from a variety of forms of dementia, which is why it is important to pressure government to fund research.

I agree that is is very unfair that sufferers are not as well supported as those with other devastating conditions. My DH has Parkinson’s and is increasingly losing his ability to function normally and I don’t see much help out there for the future when I can no longer care for him.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.