Sean Pontin said he was calling for critical improvements to be made to Jersey’s dementia services. And he added that for this to happen, the States first needed to create a strategy that would identify any gaps within the Health Department.
‘Other countries are heavily prioritising their dementia policies but Jersey doesn’t even have a collective strategy. This is a huge problem and something of a ticking time bomb, as the numbers of people diagnosed with dementia globally is likely to treble by 2050,’ said Mr Pontin.
Last week, Mr Pontin and two of his colleagues were among 800 people from 46 countries who attended the 28th Alzheimer Europe Conference in Barcelona. The conference, which hosts people with dementia, their carers, volunteers, policy-makers, health professionals and academics, allows attendees to share research, practices and experiences.
According to the Alzheimer’s Society’s figures, 850,000 people are living with dementia in the UK, and this is set to rise to more than 1 million by 2025 and 2 million by 2051. It is estimated that a further 225,000 people living in the UK will develop dementia this year, which equates to one person every three minutes.
Mr Pontin explained that the conference, titled Making Dementia a European Priority, highlighted how behind Jersey is and showed the need for effective health and social care policies to be developed.
Mr Pontin added that the association was planning to form a new ‘dementia experience group’ to increase awareness, which he hopes will make Jersey ‘dementia-friendly’.
He said: ‘The association supports people of all ages who have been, or are, affected by dementia and we want to encourage those people to work with us to plan for the Island’s future. The group will seek to engage and empower people living with dementia as well as influence attitudes, services and policies that affect their lives. We would love to hear from anybody who felt able to contribute to the group.’
Anyone interested in joining the group can telephone the Alzheimer’s Association on 723519 or email sean@jerseyalzheimers.com.
