Dementia

There are ways of managing dementia that will bear less heavily on nursing staff and the family. This text suggests guidelines and support services which can help to alleviate the difficulties facing these carers.

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A nurse attached to a general practice with a list of around 18,000 patients might expect to find between 60 and 80 people with dementia and it is estimated that there will be a 12.2 per cent increase in the number of cases in the UK by the year 2001. At this time there is no known cure or preventive medicine. The onus of caring for the demented person rests either with his/her own family, with health visitors or community care workers, or on those nurses in the geriatric wards of specialist hospitals. Managing the care of these patients and the facilities available to ensure that carers are not isolated within the community forms a key aspect of this book. There are ways of managing dementia that will bear less heavily on nursing staff and the family. This book suggests guidelines and support services which can help to alleviate the difficulties facing these carers.