Jersey’s first dementia strategy published

Jersey’s first dementia strategy has been published with the aim of improving care in the island.

It has been produced by the government in partnership with the charity, Dementia Jersey.

It has set out five priorities to focus on for the next five years, and what projects can be funded in the first year of the implementation of the strategy.

They included raising awareness of dementia, improving diagnosis times and rates and ensuring care continues after diagnosis.

The charity estimates 1,600 people are living with dementia in Jersey.

One of those is Allan Johnson who was diagnosed with the condition four years ago and has shared his experience to help develop the strategy.

He said he was “a little bit sceptical” because “so much has been promised” to other areas in the health department.

Mr Johnson added support for dementia patients had improved and said: “’I am happy if somebody else has a better diagnosis because of the plans.”

One of the other focuses of the strategy is providing better support for families and dementia carers.

It took six years for Samantha Gleave’s mother to be diagnosed and she said it was a “frightening and lonely journey” and she felt she had “very little support”.

The plans for the new strategy had been delayed by a few weeks so the health minister could give the funding to implement the first year of the strategy.

Ms Gleave added: “Deputy Tom Binet has been so positive with this and I think the delay was a positive as there is no point having a strategy that sits on a shelf and gathers dust because there isn’t the budget for it.”

Health Minister, Deputy Tom Binet, apologised to those in attendance at the launch but defended the delay to the strategy.

He said it was “important for people to know what we could do with the money available” and “we need to start investing in prevention” for conditions like dementia.

“If we do not start tackling the problem at point source, we will end up with a bill that we simply can’t afford, so dementia is one of the many areas that we need to start investing in upfront,” Mr Binet added.

Claudine Snape from Dementia Jersey was part of the project which heard from more than 550 people about their experiences to shape the strategy.

She said there is “a lot of optimism” about the plans and it feels like Jersey is “on the right track” to becoming a positive place to live for people with dementia.

Ms Snape said: “We can all agree funding is still a big issue and hopefully we’ve made the economic and social case for why that funding is important because dementia is the fastest growing condition affecting over 65s on the island.”

The dementia strategy also plans to work with businesses and schools to raise more awareness about how to prevent developing the condition and helping those who’ve been diagnosed with it.