Dementia services failing patients, says watchdog
pharmafile | July 5, 2007 | News story | |Â Â Â
Dementia is being given far too low a priority by health and social services in the UK, despite a rapid rise in the number of sufferers, according to a new report by the National Audit Office.
The publicly-funded watchdog says too few people with dementia are being diagnosed, or being diagnosed soon enough, and early interventions known to be cost-effective are not being made widely available.
Head of the National Audit Office Sir John Bourn said the report showed how much scope there was to improve services for people with dementia.
"Our rapidly ageing population means that costs for addressing dementia will continue to increase and, without redesign, services for people with dementia are likely to become increasingly inconsistent and unsustainable," said Bourn.
Dementia can no longer be set aside. The issues raised in this report need to be addressed as a matter of urgency."
The report goes on to say that early diagnosis and intervention in dementia is known to be cost-effective, but that only a third to a half of people with dementia ever receive a formal diagnosis.
The UK is in the bottom third of countries in Europe in terms of the percentage of dementia patients receiving anti-dementia drugs (less than 20%) and the average time taken to diagnose patients in the UK is up to twice as long as in some other countries.
Neil Hunt chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society said the charity was delighted that the NAO report and echoed its calls for dementia to be made a national priority.
He concluded by saying that dementia today had the same status as cancer in the 1950s – an almost taboo subject suffering from stigma which had to be overcome.
The report's publication coincides with a legal challenge by pharmaceutical companies and patient organisation the Alzheimer's Society against a decision to restrict access to drug treatment.
The NAO report does not comment directly on whether or not NICE's decision is correct, but said the UK services for Alzheimer's patients were lagging behind much of Europe
Discussion concerning the cost-effectiveness of the available drugs notwithstanding, these data provide evidence that the UK is functioning relatively poorly in terms of the diagnosis and treatment of dementia, the report noted.
