From Ron Bramley, Chief Executive:
“Thomas Pocklington Trust is disappointed that the National Dementia Strategy contains no mention of sight loss.
By failing even to mention sight loss and its role in people with dementia, the National Dementia Strategy has missed the opportunity to deliver joined-up care to those with dementia.Research has shown that mental health professionals have failed to recognise sight loss and sensory loss as factors in the confusion and disruptive behaviour associated with dementia.Yet the National Strategy continues to treat dementia as a single focus mental health issue.There is an urgent need for care for sensory loss to be an integral part of care for dementia – for greater co-ordination amongst professionals from both areas, sharing of information, and joint training.While sight loss is absent from the strategy it will continue to be an unacknowledged factor in dementia and continue to make the experience of dementia a worse experience than it needs to be.”
The National Dementia Strategy contains:
- No mention of sensory loss or sight loss
- No mention of the importance of co-ordination between mental health specialists and vision professionals such as optometrists
- There is no evidence that the implications of sight loss concurrent with dementia have informed the strategy
- Concurrence of dementia and other neurological disorders is mentioned with some attention to dementia among people with learning disabilities
- Though the strategy recognises the value of "other professionals" (not mental health professionals) going into care homes, it refers to community pharmacists, drama therapists, dentists and geriatricians but does not mention optical professionals
In November 2008 Thomas Pocklington Trust released a report, “The experiences and needs of people with dementia and serious visual impairment: a qualitative study,” by researchers at King’s College London.The research showed that sight loss compounded the effects of dementia and that the combined effects of the two conditions could be severe.The study revealed that specialists dealing with dementia did not recognise the importance of sight loss.Both mental health and sensory-loss professionals identified shortcomings that prevented those with dementia and sight loss from getting the care they need.
- Mental health professionals acknowedged that staff in dementia services might lack the time and expertise to respond to sight loss
- Sight loss professionals had tried but failed to find training to help them deal with dementia. They said there was a false expectation that sight loss could be dealt with in isolation
- Dementia care staff said they met multiple needs but few felt that visual impairment would have a significant effect on how they worked with clients
- Sensory rehabilitation professionals said the co-existence of sight loss and dementia was common and growing, yet they have no guidelines for working with people with dementia.They criticised GPs, ophthalmologists, and mental health professionals for failing to shareinformation about dementia, which could put clients at risk.
- There was little evidence of communication between mental health and sensory impairment teams.Assessments were undertaken independently and information was rarely shared.
Thomas Pocklington Trust submitted evidence to the National Dementia Strategy but it is not reflected in the final document.
Says Ron Bramley, “The combined effects of dementia and sight loss are already a growing problem but the National Strategy does not reflect this.At the very least, we hope that when the strategy is implemented there will be a greater emphasis on sight loss, with joint working across mental health and sight loss professions.”
For more detail on this subject, please follow the link to the Research Findings paper "The experiences and needs of people with dementia and serious visual impairment: a qualitative study"
