DEMENTIA CARE
Homecare Behind Closed Doors
An investigation from Alzheimer’s Society has shown that only 2% of people affected by dementia say homecare workers have enough dementia training. Here the charity tells us more about their recent findings.
An Alzheimer’s Society investigation has exposed a vicious cycle where a lack of dementia training for homecare workers results in intolerable stress for people with dementia, families and carers, and for the homecare workers themselves.
The study found that poor quality homecare is leaving too many people with dementia spending the day in soiled clothing, going without food or water, or ending up in costly hospital or care home admissions when they could have stayed at home, where they want to be, for longer.
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The charity is urging the public to sign their petition asking government to fix a broken homecare system as part of their Fix Dementia Care campaign. The petition calls for funding for training to counteract years of cuts to social care budgets and to ensure the workforce have the skills to provide dementia care that’s needed.
The investigation involved a survey of homecare workers with Unison, data provided by Skills for Care which was commissioned by the Alzheimer’s Society, Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to all local authorities in
England, and a survey of over 1220 people affected by dementia to gather first-hand testimonies about homecare.
Frightening Figures More than 400,000 people with dementia are believed to receive homecare and there are 520,000 homecare workers – more than the NHS total of Doctors, GPs and Nursing staff (506,000). Yet 38% of homecare workers have no dementia training and 71% do not receive dementia training that is accredited.
43% of homecare workers have asked for further dementia training,
www.tomorrowscare.co.uk
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