A Dementia Awareness Day is being held on Wednesday 15th January 2014 between 10:00 and 15:00 in the Conference Room at St Mary’s Hospital.
The Awareness Day is open to any member of staff and the public who may have any questions relating to Dementia. It will also provide education and support to those individuals or their family members who may need it.
Dementia is a syndrome characterised by the catastrophic, progressive global deterioration in intellectual function and is a main cause of late life disability. The Island had the highest recorded prevalence of dementia in the UK for 2011/12 which is linked with additional psychiatric symptoms such as adjustment disorder, anxiety, psychiatric symptoms and alcohol related issues.
Dementia prevalence has increased on the island over the last five years and nationally. In terms of numbers there has been an increase of 66.5% registered with dementia and a total increase from 0.6% to 1% total prevalence compared to the national prevalence of 0.4% in 2006/07 to 0.5% in 2011/12.
The prevalence rates have been applied to the Office of National Statistics (ONS) population projections of the 65 and over population to give estimated numbers of people predicted to have dementia up to 2020. It is predicted there will be a further 21% increase in registered dementia prevalence by 2020.
For further facts please refer to the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) fact sheet ‘People make healthy choices for healthy lifestyles – Mental Health (Updated September 2013)’ available at https://www.iwight.com/azservices/documents/2552-Mental-Health-Sept-2013.pdf
For more information about Dementia services provided by the Isle of Wight NHS Trust visit the website at https://www.iow.nhs.uk/our-services/community-services/Community%20Memory%20Service/memory-service.htm
