Dementia care
How tech is improving dementia care
Jonathan Papworth, co- founder and director of Person Centred Software, explains how digital technology can improve carer efficiency, minimise errors, and help alleviate the caregiver burden
Dementia diagnosis in the UK continues to rise year on year, with an estimated 850,000 living with the condition currently.1
Without a medical
breakthrough, this number could soar to more than 1m by 2025, with the Alzheimer’s Society estimating that 209,600 will develop dementia this year alone.2
That is one person every three
minutes. Due to the significant rise in cases, the
National Institute for Health and Social Care Excellence updated its guidelines in 2018, for the first time in ten years, stating that ‘all health and social care professionals must be properly equipped to support people with dementia at every stage’. Dementia is not a specific disease,
after all. It is a general term to describe a severe decline in brain function that affects a person’s memory, behaviour, language, judgement and motor skills. This loss of function results from the damage or death of neurons in the brain. With about 70 per cent of people in care homes living with dementia,3
care
providers have been forced to adapt to ensure they can carry out the proper care required for people living with the
condition. There are different types of dementia, but the most common is Alzheimer’s disease, which accounts for 60 to 70 per cent of all dementia cases. Today, care providers are under
immense pressure as the UK still finds itself recovering from the coronavirus crisis. It has become clear that post- pandemic workloads have increased dramatically to ensure caregivers can deliver the same quality of dementia care given pre-pandemic. Furthermore, staff do not have the luxury of extra time, with the build-up of workload having increased significantly.
Care providers must make it their mission to ensure that the workload of their staff is reduced to ensure the standard of dementia care is not compromised
December 2021 •
www.thecarehomeenvironment.com
Family and friends, too, have found
themselves plugging the gaps. Since lockdown began in March 2020, they are estimated to have spent around 92m extra hours caring for loved ones with dementia. It is unsurprising that, according to a study conducted by the Alzheimer’s Society, 95 per cent of carers found the extra hours had negatively impacted their physical or mental health.4
Reducing the burden These unprecedented and unsustainable pressures have, in effect, created an overwhelming level of stress for those tasked with delivering outstanding dementia care for residents. Care providers, then, must make it their mission to ensure that the workload of their staff is reduced to ensure the standard of dementia care is not compromised. Of course, staff wellness should always
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