Carers To Benefit From Extra Dementia Nurses

People who care for loved ones with dementia are set to benefit from a further eight specialist nurses this year.
  But with an estimated 22,000 people across the county suffering from dementia, there still will not be enough, a spokeswoman for the charity For Dementia, said.
 
The charity provides Admiral Nurses, who are trained to help the carer of people with dementia.
 
Their specialised work hit the headlines this week after the former newsreader John Suchet spoke out about what it is like caring for his wife, Bonnie, who has dementia, and the invaluable support he gets from his Admiral Nurse, Ian.
 
In Kent, there are currently five of the nurses working with families and carers of people with a form of the debilitating condition.
 
Jon Parsons, associate director for older people’s mental health in east Kent for Kent and Medway Social Care NHS Partnership Trust, said the trust is currently recruiting an additional eight of the nurses to work across the county.
 
Nationally there are only 60 Admiral Nurses working.
 
Jacqui Wharrad, a spokeswoman at For Dementia, said: “We have been very successful in getting funding in Kent and Medway.
 
“Kent is very lucky but the numbers are huge… But there are still not enough. The Government’s national dementia strategy (published earlier this month) says there should be a dementia advisor for every person that is not going to happen overnight.
 
“It is good in Kent. We are already doing what the Government wants us to do but we want more.
 
“If you are going to provide that quality support for all these people with this disease we are going to need more and more nurses and resources.”
 
In the UK there are currently 700,000 people with dementia, which is an umbrella term and covers Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia and rarer forms, and this figure is expected to increase to 1.7million by 2050.
 
Mr Suchet spoke about his nurse this week, saying: “When I see him I pour my heart out to him.
 
“He encourages, advises, and most important of all, keeps telling me not to feel guilty. Guilt, the natural condition of the carer, for wanting to run away, wanting to have fun, wanting to form relationships, wanting to do this and that, and resenting the fact that you can’t.
 
“I have tried, and failed, to untangle my emotions. Ian has explained to me that I am in mourning; I am going through bereavement… for someone still living.”
 
The much-loved author Terry Pratchett has also spoken publicly about dementia after he was diagnosed in 2007 with a rare form of Alzheimer’s, which he famously described as an “embuggerance”.
 
Ms Wharrad said that putting dementia into the spotlight was helpful, she said: “John Suchet has really done a lot of good for people in his position.
 
“He is making people understand that you are losing someone you love and you need support as well and that is what our nurses are there for.”
 
She added: “Obviously the number of nurses is no where near the number of people with dementia. There is a big mismatch between what is needed and what is out there.”
 
The trust’s Mr Parsons said that the nurses provided a “fantastic service” for the carers and were helping the trust meet the directives in the Government’s recent dementia strategy.