Dementia: Government strategy brings it out of darkness

By 2041 some 140,000 people in Ireland will be affected by dementia, of which Alzheimer's is the most common form. In just over a quarter century the number with the illness – a feature of an ageing population in Ireland, as elsewhere – will almost have tripled. The increase in dementia presents not just a huge medical and social challenge, both for the health service and for those caring for people with dementia, very often family members. But it is also a challenge for society to become more aware and better informed about the nature of the condition. In that regard, the important role of communities should not be underestimated, both in mobilising support for those affected, and in reducing the stigma sometimes associated with dementia.

The agreement between Atlantic Philanthropies and the Health Service Executive on a joint financing of research into how the illness is seen and treated in communities, represents an important element in the Government's National Dementia Strategy. Taoiseach Enda Kenny in launching the programme last week aptly described the condition of dementia as: "One of a gradual leave-taking. Of absence. The well-known 'self' dissolving away, in a series of small, debilitating, and it must be said, vindictive losses."

The Government’s adoption of a national strategy on this neglected illness has brought the disease out of the darkness, into the light and towards acceptance of a greater role for the State in supporting dementia sufferers. This means providing more intensive home-support packages for those with the illness, and also equipping GPs with additional dementia-specific resources that are needed to help diagnose the illness, which can be difficult, and to treat and support patients with that condition.

For those with dementia, the burden of care has fallen heavily on family members or on those providing informal care – €807 million is the estimated value of the service that they give each year. Both patients and carers deserve, and should get, a better deal.