Living with Dementia Interviews with response
Summary:
Interviews were carried out with 30 individuals with 39 people in total being present.
Over 144 comments were collected and most participants were female and over the age of 70 years.
With regards to the questions asked the following key findings can be highlighted:
- Having family members with dementia places a significant responsibility on family members and this is not always recognised by services.
- Family members often felt as though they had missed out on life enhancing opportunities as a result of their caring role.
- The journey to a formal diagnosis can take quite some time and family members are often aware beforehand due to changes in behaviours.
- For some family members acceptance of a diagnosis can be difficult.
- People felt that accessing support services was challenging when juggling this with a working life.
- There is a lack of activities which those with dementia can access unaccompanied
- After a loved one has passed away family members who cared for them can find it difficult often continuing to participate in certain activities long afterwards.
Conclusion:
Most family members are often balancing caring for loved ones with work which was often challenging.
There were many positive comments and reflections on services however some highlighted that the nature of dementia and the time taken for diagnosis can mean family members are struggling and feeling unsupported for a significant amount of time.
Feedback regarding information about support services available was mixed with people saying at times too much information was given and at other times there was none.
Recommendations were made to the Dementia Partnership Board, Bolton CCG, Bolton Hospitals Foundation Trust, Bolton LA and voluntary sectors.
Downloads
Responses to these recommendations can be found in the full report by clicking on the link below:
