The Fife Dementia Strategy: 2010 – 2020 - The Knowledge Network

equire a range of ongoing and short-term health and social care services
based on their individual needs. The variability in the services and support
accessed in the journey travelled while living with dementia is a result of the
individual needs as well as the historical context and a lack of central and
strategic guidance which has allowed the development of service gaps and
perceived inequalities throughout Fife (see 1.14-1.18).
As the number of people with dementia in Fife continues to increase, services
will be stretched even further, and without central leadership the links that
remain may begin to pull apart. In order to improve equality and accessibility
to diagnostic and ongoing support services, it is necessary that the service
providers and users are involved in the developments which are led centrally.
To ensure effective communication and information sharing a Lead for
Dementia in Fife should be developed with a key role in improving service
coordination and integration, and also in leading the implementation of this
Strategy, working across health and social care services throughout Fife.
Many of the relationships formed during the development of this Strategy as
well as the recommendations and actions identified in this Strategy will
contribute to improving partnership working and collaboration. The Lead for
Dementia will continue to maintain these links while fostering new ones.
3.2 Complete general and targeted awareness raising campaigns about
dementia and the benefits of leading a healthy life.
Dementia is a condition which concerns society as a whole, yet continues to
be associated with stigma and ignorance. This often leads to people who have
dementia and their families withdrawing from social contexts and delaying
seeking help or support in an effort to protect themselves and their loved
ones.
There also continues to be a general belief in the public and amongst many
professionals that following a diagnosis of dementia little can be done for the
person with dementia or their family. This is not the case. Advances in
treatments, interventions and services available for people with dementia
have been shown to have positive effects including delaying the progression
of symptoms, improving quality of life, improving understanding of the
condition and enabling future planning, and reducing rates of
institutionalisation.
By improving understanding about dementia, what it is, what can be done,
and what benefits there are to receiving an early diagnosis, it is likely that
more people will step up to acknowledge their condition and seek help.
Awareness raising campaigns such as the initiative recently completed in
Dundee using the Worried About Your Memory? material 10 offers advice on
what affects memory, how to help memory, what to do if you think you might
have dementia and where to get help. By targeting advertisements to services
and locations commonly used by older people, such as on the bus, on
10 NHS Health Scotland (2009). Worried about your memory? Edinburgh.
20