Dementia Friends Event this Friday in Corbridge

Corbridge is leading the way in the North in showing how a village can both cope with dementia and support local people who are suffering from this terrible disease. I have met with many of the local councillors and supporters and professional organisations in May and previously so I am delighted we are doing this follow up.

So this Friday I will be going to The Dyvels in Corbridge and taking part in a Dementia Friends Supported Walk to begin at 11am, for 1 hour.

Attendees include: Cllr Melvyn Stone, Corbridge Parish Council, who has been leading on the Corbridge project, Lorraine Oliver, North Country Leisure, Representatives from Barclays Bank, Cllr Jean Fearon,Amy Syron-Mallenby – Alzheimer’s Society, and Cllr Maurice Hodgson – Chair Corbridge Parish Council.
There will also be many members of the public and several dementia sufferers coming too. I am told the walks are very popular. The walk will be a gentle walk along the river bank, around the cricket ground, finishing back at the Dyvels.

Thereafter we are having a Dementia Friends session at The Dyvels for an hour or so
Melyvn will deliver the session, which aims to help people understand five key facts about dementia using a range of interactive activities and analogies. Melvyn will aim to keep the session quite short, which should allow time for questions and discussion. If you are interested, are a carer, or simply keen to help or understand better I urge you to come along.

Dementia Friendly Villages are the future + Corbridge is leading the way

Corbridge is on course to become Northumberland’s first dementia-friendly community as part of a nationwide initiative being rolled out by the Alzheimer’s Society.

Focusing on improving the inclusion and quality of life of people with dementia, the scheme requires the participation of local residents, traders and key public figures, such as police officers and bus drivers. Crucially, it means people affected by the condition are not afraid to seek help from members of their own community. They can go about their daily business, including tasks such as shopping, banking and using public transport, knowing that if they become forgetful and confused, the people around them will be supportive and understanding.
The statistics locally need to be understood to gauge the huge issue we face locally:

In Northumberland around 4,690 people currently live with dementia
This figure is expected to rise to around 6,250 by 2021.
The project’s ultimate aim is to raise awareness and increase understanding of the illness.

Amy Syron-Mallenby, The Alzheimer’s Society business development officer for Northumberland, said: “A dementia-friendly community is a city, town or village where people with dementia are understood, respected, supported, and confident they can contribute to community life. There are simple steps communities can take towards becoming dementia-friendly, as well as launching the new symbol that communities can use to show they are committed to making changes.

The steps range from challenging stigma to including people with dementia in local life and highlighting the importance of accessible transport and businesses that are respectful and responsive; elsewhere in Northumberland, support is also being harnessed to help Hexham and Berwick become designated dementia-friendly communities.

In Corbridge, the project has been driven by parish councillor Melvyn Stone, who has already undergone training with the charity to become a dementia friend. These are volunteers who are prepared to turn their understanding of dementia into practical action.

Coun. Stone explained:
“In Corbridge, we are already doing a number of things as a village which ensure dementia sufferers are firmly part of the community. We have a drop-in centre, the Florence Hope activity club, which takes place in the parish hall twice a week. We also now have a weekly walking group with between nine to 12 trained walk leaders we can call upon to lead walks in the local area suitable for people with dementia. We adapt them to suit the person’s physical fitness and it means they can be accompanied by their carers out in the fresh air, or their carer, particularly if it’s a husband or wife, can go into the village and have a coffee or enjoy a bit of a break.”

The assisted walking group was developed from a core of interested volunteers who originally met through the West Northumberland Health Walks programme, run by North Country Leisure. They have since won £2,000 of grant funding in their own right and plan to get 2014’s walking programme underway in April.
“I’ve also had a meeting with at least nine of the village’s traders who all registered their interest in supporting the initiative and have since undergone training,” said Coun. Stone.
The next step for the traders is to sign up to displaying a dementia-friendly logo within their premises to provide an extra level of reassurance that they are on board.

It is also hoped a music workshop can be established where people of all ages and abilities can get together on a regular basis to enjoy their chosen instrument.
Coun. Stone said: “It’s been inspired by one of the village’s residents who plays the recorder particularly well and came to me, as chairman of the parish hall management committee, to see if we could set something up.”
Corbridge Women’s Institute has offered to support the venture by providing St Andrew’s church cottage in the village as a base for the gathering. “I don’t have anyone in my family that has suffered from dementia or any particular personal story,” said Coun. Stone, “But I feel lucky enough to live in one of the nicest and friendliest towns in the country, among people who are very proactive and willing to do their bit.
“Corbridge is a lovely, friendly, close-knit community so our village is the ideal place to be a shining beacon for dementia-friendly communities, so people with dementia can enjoy their surroundings for as long as possible.”

“It is more common in people over 65, but I’ve learned through my training that there are more than 400 different types of dementia and it’s such a complex condition. It’s happening to more and more people in front of our eyes and it’s important that we address it and do everything we can to help those suffering from it. I suppose I’m interested in dementia because so many people are not interested, but I get a feeling that people in Corbridge are ready to change things for the better. Because of all the criteria we already meet and the steps we are undertaking, Corbridge qualified in just 48 hours to begin working to become a dementia-friendly village.”

Melvyn is preparing to embark on more training which will allow him to become a designated dementia friends champion, enabling him to deliver information sessions and training to other local volunteers.
Last September, The Alzheimer’s Society launched a report Building Dementia-friendly Communities: a priority for everyone, which revealed less than half of people living with dementia feel a part of their community.

An economic analysis commissioned by the charity shows that building a network of dementia-friendly communities could save £11,000 per person, per year by helping people with dementia to remain independent and stay out of care for longer. Amy, who has been working alongside Coun. Stone, said: “To create a dementia-friendly community we need to bring together every part of the Corbridge community from health services, social care, transport, businesses, charities and voluntary groups, emergency services and local people. Thanks to Melvyn we are heading in the right direction.”

For further details about The Alzheimer’s Society, contact the charity’s Hexham office on (01434) 607318.
If you wish to become a dementia friend or would like to help with the initiative in Corbridge, contact Melvyn Stone on 07803 955148 or e-mail m.stone113@btinternet .com

The Weekend Read: Hospitals, A&E and the NHS

I was granted just 4 minutes by the Speaker to address this important topic, shortly before Christmas; I set out my thoughts on local hospital healthcare provision in short form:

Meeting the wonderful Elsie at Hexham Hospital

As a jockey, I spent far too much time in A and E departments after coming off race horses.

Once, I wandered into hospital with a broken collarbone and four bones sticking out of my shoulder. On another occasion, I spent a long time with a cut kidney and lost a spleen at Warwick hospital—I thank Dr Mike Stellakis, and his team, for saving my life that night. Also, two years ago, I collapsed in the House and spent a night in St Thomas’ with a young but capable bunch of A and E doctors. I thank them all and put on the record this Christmas the huge effort made by all our public sector staff, particularly in the NHS.

In Northumberland, we feel that we are leading the way in health care provision. Begun under the previous Government, that has continued under this one. Haltwhistle is a small cottage hospital that in the olden days would have been shut, but which now is being rebuilt as an integrated NHS and local authority facility. It is the first of its kind in the country; it is utterly transformative and it is exactly what the NHS and the local authority should be doing with old buildings, although I urge the trust to resolve the contracts that are not yet resolved. When I visited it last week, however, I saw that it was a truly innovative building and that it would be a great addition.

Hexham A and E is also a fantastic building. This November, I worked there as a hospital porter, and I thank Barry, the head porter, who has worked there 31 years, for keeping me in line and ensuring I did not put anything in the wrong place. Then there is Cramlington, an innovative, pre-Keogh assessment health care centre being built for the north-east. It is a perfect example of where we should be going: a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week, consultant-led facility. As an A and E specialist care facility, it is exactly what Keogh is talking about. Interestingly, it was planned under the previous Government and is being brought forward under this one. It is exactly the direction we should be heading in.

I shall deal briefly with another issue. Northumbria has outstanding health care, but sadly North Cumbria is having some difficulties, and I urge the Secretary of State to expedite the merger of Northumbria and North Cumbria NHS trusts as soon as possible.

I turn now to ways we can keep our constituents and patients out of A and E. I have no spleen—it was kicked out of me by a three-mile chaser at Stratford—so every year I need the flu jab. Consequently, like pensioners, some young children and vulnerable adults, I went to get my flu jab last month at Haltwhistle GP centre. I thank Sarah Speed—it was not painful and took only five minutes. Tragically, however, at least 10% to 20% of the population do not take up the flu jab and are therefore likely to end up in A and E over the winter or possibly die. As constituency MPs, we must ram home their failure to take up the opportunity to deal with their own health care.

Finally, I turn to the hospice and dementia care systems in Northumberland. In the Charlotte Straker hospice and Tynedale Hospice at Home, we have two outstanding hospices, both of which I have assisted and one of which I have fundraised for. Both do a great job keeping people out of hospital. I should also mention the Age UK programme dealing with elderly people in my constituency. It is making a huge difference and ensuring that everyone becomes a dementia friend. Only through such actions will we bring about real change in our health care system.

Lunch with Age UK in Corbridge

Just before Christmas I met with Age UK, and attended a lunch organised by them in Corbridge for local residents. This year, I have also spent time with NHS consultants, university experts in Ageing Well from Newcastle University, and various locals who are pretty robust in their views. The 5 basic rules for combatting old age are very clear:

- Don’t smoke
- Keep your weight down
- Exercise
- Eat healthily
- Don’t drink too much

Millions of pounds of government money is spent trying to persuade people to adopt these basic tenets of life – but the message does not seem to be getting through.

But almost as important is the need to keep your brain active. This was a message received loud and clear from the Dominos session I had before Age UK’s lunch. I got soundly thrashed at Dominos by all 3 of my teammates [particularly the wonderful Sybille in the picture to my right], who outwitted me with great smiles and a winning way with Dominos. All of those present were active, living healthily, eating well at an Age UK hot lunch; indeed, many had walked to the Village Hall. They were doing all they could to lead a healthy lifestyle, keeping the brain active and fighting old age. Full credit and thanks to Age UK for inviting me, organising a delicious lunch and being such a great presence in our community.

One final point: the harsh fact is that two-thirds of people with dementia live in the community but studies show that sometimes less than half say that they feel part of their community. People with dementia sometimes need a helping hand to go about their daily lives and feel included in their local community. Alzheimer’s Society wants one million people in England to have become a Dementia Friend by 2015. Dementia Friends gives people an understanding of dementia and the small things they can do that can make a difference to people living with dementia - from helping someone find the right bus to spreading the word about dementia.

So for 2014 make one of your resolutions this: make sure you reach out to those who are on their own or of advanced years and be a friend to them.

Tynedale Diary this week

Age UK have kindly asked me to lunch in Corbridge today to discuss their brilliant work and the local care of sufferers of Dementia and other diseases, but I will be in Hexham first thing for meetings and a visit to the Hexham Railway Yard developement. This afternoon I will be having a private meeting at one of our local schools and then after further meetings will be at an event in Newcastle.

Tomorrow I am meeting the Ponteland Medical Group as part of our efforts to meet local GPs, and see the work they are doing [I will blog more on my recent visit to Haltwhistle GP clinic in the fullness of time]; I then have a public health meeting I have organised with local organsations concerned with minimum unit price and display of alcohol. I canot say more for the moment but I am pleased that Balance NE are coming along, as well as several key local representatives who have given up their time to discuss this public health issue and possible ways to address it. I have meetings with broadband and business providers in Ponteland tomorrow evening.

Saturday I am knocking on doors and campaigning locally, before hopefully meeting a mate at the match v Southampton.

Good news on Dementia care and treatment

I am increasingly impressed with reports of innovative research into treatment of dementia: researchers say a new drug has shown some promise in patients with mild dementia, and might be yet more effective if given to those at risk of disease long before they show any symptoms. The papers have reported the findings of Dr Eric Karran, director of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, who said scientists were “full of hope” that a breakthrough in drug therapy to prevent dementia could come within five years.

If further trials on the drug succeed, it could mean that those with a family history of dementia are given monthly injections of the drug a decade before any signs of disease show - in the same way that millions of people now take statins to ward off heart disease, he said. The world is really focusing on demnetia care, with the G8 summit next week on dementia, and the department of health, charities and support organisations that we have in the North East are playing their part.

Dr Karran said trials have suggested that a drug called solamezumab may delay the onset of disease, halting problems with brain function and behaviour in those with mild dementia; analysis examined the impact of the drug on those with mild dementia and researchers found it had an effect both on their daily behaviour and the functioning of their brain and memory.

Now researchers in the US are developing these trials - which if they work would lead to a likely preemptive prescription. The reality is that changes in the brain associated with dementia occur as far as a decade before symptoms are shown. Noone wants to hail a false dawn but this is defintely good news. It is also a good time to record the amazing work done by our many charities locally from Age UK to the work of the Dementia Friends.
I have heard great reports of the work that the Tynedale Alzheimers Support group do and they can be contacted locally at:
Office 4, Hexham and Tynedale Community Centre,  Gilesgate, Hexham, Northumberland, NE46 3NP
Tel: 01434 607 318; Email: hexham@alzheimers.org.uk
and anyone concerned should contact them as a first point of reference. All of us will have to deal with this illness in some way or form and greater knowledge and support is a great start.

More details on this story here: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/unprecedented-breakthrough-in-the-hunt-for-a-dementia-drug-within-five-years-8983378.html