It was great to meet with Dementia UK recently. It is estimated that there are 1,305 people in Maidstone and Malling living with dementia, which makes up 1.2% of the total population.
We discussed how dementia specialist nurses, such as Dementia UK’s Admiral Nurses, are essential to transforming the lives of people diagnosed with and caring for others with dementia. We need to see a far greater number of dementia nurses in community health and hospital settings in order to prevent unnecessary hospital admissions and speed up hospital discharge for people living with dementia.
I have written to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to ask what steps he has taken to assess the impact of a) people with dementia staying in hospital for twice as long as people over 65 without dementia and b) the lack of specialist dementia nurses to meet the needs of people with dementia during hospitals stays. You will be able view the response once received here: https://www.helengrant.org/parliament
Dementia UK's specialist Admiral Nurses are available to speak about anything dementia-related every day of the week on 0800 888 6678 and they will be able to advise about their different local services in Kent, or you can also make a virtual appointment here: https://url.uk.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/n036CQn9wCkqvAnktxfvFGerGx?domain=dementiauk.org/
