Jersey Alzheimer’s Society chairman Jim Hollywood says that detecting the illness early on allows sufferers to make major decisions about their future before it is too late, as well as enabling doctors to prescribe medication to help reduce the disease’s effects.
It is estimated that between 1,200 and 1,400 people in Jersey have Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia – and many of them have yet to be diagnosed.
Mr Hollywood’s comments come after a UK survey carried out by the Alzheimer’s Society revealed that more than half of those seeking a diagnosis for dementia have delayed going to their GP by at least a year and according to the survey, nearly two thirds of people fear that a diagnosis would mean their life is over and almost half worried that friends would think they were ‘mad’.
