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Dementia Services

I have some personal connection with this issue. My late father suffered from dementia, and my mother and I were his carers until he died aged 75. Before I discuss general policy issues, I shall make a few extrapolations from my personal experience. I am aware that people are fearful of dementia, partly because it is not at present curable and partly because they fear many of the aspects that we have heard about today—the decline into incapacity and helplessness, and the humiliation. However, it is not always as traumatic as people fear. My father retained his optimism and good humour to the end. I like to remember his remark that the good thing about dementia was that he was able to read all his favourite books again because he could not remember how they turned out. If we can encourage that sort of attitude, among carers as well as sufferers, we might be able to make things less traumatic. An important policy point that arises out of that experience was raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Bridgend (Mrs. Moon), who referred to the spectrum of dementia, from serious cases, with sufferers who are totally dependent, to cases in which people are able to make decisions about their own lives. My father remained aware of his condition throughout his life and he was able to discuss with us appropriate protective measures and the trade-off between too much risk and too much interference with his enjoyment of life. For instance, he never went out on his own, because he was afraid that he would not find his way home, but that did not mean that he just stayed at home all the time. When he could, he went out to enjoy the pleasures of the outside world. The condition is not a steady state. People often imagine that once someone has dementia they experience a steady slide downwards, one day forgetting one thing and the next day forgetting two things, and so on. As my hon. Friend also pointed out, it is not like that. Sufferers have good days and bad days, just like the rest of us. It is important that carers, whether professionals or relatives, recognise the good days so that they can take a step back and be less intrusive, to give the sufferer a bit of space, a chance to explore what they can do and to use what capacity they have. On other days, the sufferer will need more support, and the carers will need to move in closer. That recognition can be difficult, and is part of the training that has been mentioned already today, especially in the sensitive speech by the hon. Member for Leeds, North-West (Greg Mulholland),