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Dementia care 'map' published
An interactive online map is being published by the Government to "tackle poor performances" in dementia care and give sufferers a clear idea which parts of England are guilty of "poor performance", the health secretary has announced.
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Dementia 'map' shows regional care discrepancies
A new report has exposed huge differences in the number of dementia cases being diagnosed across England.
The NHS has published a map showing that less than half of sufferers have their condition recognised in some areas, while in others three out of four cases are treated.
ITV News Medical Editor Lawrence McGinty reports.
Dementia map is a 'step in the right direction'
A proposed map showing the quality of dementia care around the country could help drive up standards, according to the Alzheimer's Society.
Its director of external affairs, Alison Cook, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme:
She said that just being diagnosed can help patients by providing access to advice, social care and by enabling them to plan for their future.
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Hunt: Difficult to diagnose dementia early
One of the problems behind the dismal rate of dementia diagnosis is that doctors have not wanted to carry out an assessment because "nothing much has happened" to the patient, the health secretary told Daybreak.
Patients and doctors alike would benefit from having a specialist who could "give you memory tests", "sort things out very quickly", and was focused solely on the degenerative condition, Jeremy Hunt added.
Relatives of dementia sufferers need to 'push harder'
Relatives of dementia sufferers should "push that little bit harder" to make sure their loved ones get the care needed if they live in area exposed as having poor care standards, a charity chief has told Daybreak.
Alison Cook from the Alzheimer's Society admitted "it was not good enough" advice to give worried relatives, but had little choice after the Government's upcoming publication of a "dementia care map".
Ms Cook explained kind of treatment dementia sufferers should expect:
"We'd like everywhere in the country to be raised to the standard of the very best. We can see from the map in some places three quarters of people are getting a diagnosis."
Labour: 'Dementia map' failing to help sufferers
A map of the quality of dementia care across the UK will not help sufferers or improve transparency in the health service, Labour have said.
They accused the Government of failing to improve the quality of care for dementia sufferers as they "cut council budgets" for elderly social care "to the bone".
The accusations come as a report into the state of dementia care exposed just over half of dementia cases go undiagnosed.
Best and worst places for dementia care released
The Government will publish an interactive online map detailing the state of dementia care in different parts of the country, the health secretary has announced.
Jeremy Hunt hopes the map will improve transparency as dementia diagnoses rise, with the World Health Organisation estimating the number of people worldwide living with dementia could more than treble to 115.4 million by 2050.
The Tory health secretary said allowing patients to see which parts of England were guilty of "poor performance" would help tackle what he calls a health and care "time bomb".
Fewer than half of people living with dementia have a diagnosis, official figures show, and the rate has improved only slightly - from 46% to 48% - over the last two years.
Even that increase masks wide discrepancies across different areas - with the best performing almost twice as well as the worst - 75% versus 39%.