Dementia support ‘needs overhaul’ in Scotland

A leading dementia group has called for an overhaul in the way support is provided for people with the condition. Alzheimer Scotland called for more “choice and control” for sufferers and their families, and warned the status quo was “not an option.”

Its report calls for sufferers and their families to get more control over payments from social work departments to organise personalised support plans.

It said its views should be recognised in the forthcoming dementia strategy.

Alzheimer Scotland’s chief executive Henry Simmons said: “Our findings add weight to the Scottish government’s drive towards self-directed support and point to a new way forward for dementia services.

“Improving access to personalised support, so that people with dementia and their families can have genuine choice and control, is the key to achieving the best possible outcome from both state and personal resources.

“Scotland must change its methods of community-based dementia care – remaining static is not an option.

“We hope that this approach will be recognised by the forthcoming national dementia strategy and will be central to reshaping care in the future.”

The report focuses on 12 individual cases which show approaches that are often unavailable from the local social work department.

It identifies a number of barriers to direct payments for people with dementia and makes recommendations on how more people with dementia and their carers can be allowed to use the payments.