preview

Dementia Issues

Decent Essays
Open Document

Older people are said to be a vulnerable group in society and it is notable that those with dementia are at a significant increase torisk of abuse, (see Manthorpe, et al 2005). The author of this paper spent her placement in an adult social work team for a local authority, for people age 65 years and over. It soon became apparent that different types of dementia seemed to permeate the caseload. The cases were initially referred to social services due to challenges faced by a person to maintain daily living tasks after a fall and hospital admission for example. Fundamentally, the majority of cases were people with a form of dementia, and each case was as complicated as the next. In order to highlight not only the physical but the emotional …show more content…

Dementia is a term used for a variety of symptoms caused when brain cells stop working correctly with a cognitive functioning decline, (Alzheimer's disease International, 2012). Some types of dementia include; Alzheimer’s disease, Vascular dementia, frontal temporal dementia and Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia, (Alzheimer’s research, UK; Banerjee et al, 2007; Weiner & Lipton 2009). One in three people who die after the age of 65 are found to have dementia, and of those, two in three are female, (Department of Health, DoH, 2015). Some of the symptoms associated with dementia include, increased difficulties in communication, action and response, changes in awareness, attention and judgment, and visual spatial difficulties, (Alzheimer's research, UK, 2017). Data collection states that dementia is expected to increase to 131.5 million worldwide by 2050 from the current 46.8 million, (Alzheimer's Disease International, 2015). Furthermore, the DoH, (2015), report that in the UK there are currently 850,000 over the age of 65 and a further 45,000 under the age of 65 living with dementia, and 69% of all people living in care homes have dementia. Elder abuse is defined as “a single, or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any

Get Access