Link to Alzheimer's Society website for useful advice and information sheets
Link to the Research Institute for the Care of the Elderly website - Advancing the health and wellbeing of older people
serving Westbury and the surrounding villages
ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE
Alzheimer’s disease is the commonest cause of dementia, representing between half and three quarters of all cases. It is caused by chemical changes destroying cells and causing the brain to shrink. Dementia is a general term for the loss of memory, mental functioning, speech, language and reasoning.
There are currently over 700,000 people with dementia in the UK and the majority is elderly, with one in 20 people over the age of 70, and one in 5 over the age of 80 being a sufferer. It is estimated that there are 180,000 people developing the illness each year, about 500 cases a day, of which approximately 1/3 lives alone, 1/3 in residential care and a 1/3 lives with a carer.
It is expected that over the next 30 years Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia will be the major health and social care challenge in the developed world and its cost, both human and financial will be vast. Already about 3/4 of the people in long term care beds suffer with dementia, and the annual cost of Alzheimer’s to the nation is between £5,400m and £5,800m.
It has been predicted that there are likely to be concentrations of people with dementia living alone and needing long term care in our own region, the South West, where there are large numbers of single retired people.
According to Wiltshire Health Authority and Social Services, it is estimated that there are around 10,000 people with dementia in Wiltshire and Alzheimer's Support estimates there are 2,000 sufferers in the catchment area.
Expected growth in numbers of people with dementia in the UK