Dementia Map

This comes into the category of 'this-is-very-interesting-info-but-what-is-it-telling-me? kind of thing.The Alzheimer's Society with the help of Tesco(?) have compiled a study showing rates of dementia compared with rates of diagnosis and comes to the conclusion that dementia is under-diagnosed. Scotland does well; Belfast does better and Wales has done badly in this respect. England varies. I'm not sure what to make of it all.

When my mum was diagnosed with dementia, we didn't tell her that she had it. There was absolutely no benefit to be had by doing this, apart from upsetting her. The diagnosis opened the door to things like Aricept, Attendance Allowance, disabled aids and a place at a local day centre that specialised in patients with early dementia. There is definitely a value in having a diagnosis; there is also an expense in it for the local authority which is maybe what these figures indicate. But there are a lot of people who don't go to the doctor when they suspect dementia, because they know there's no cure and they are afraid to have their fears confirmed. It's also an issue of independence. Not everyone has relatives who are friendly towards them and a diagnosis of dementia can mean an early curtailing of freedoms. Not to mention that a third of people with dementia live alone and never get down to the doctor in the first place.

I think this map is telling us that dementia is under-diagnosed, but not why, and that is something that we really need to know.