Community Chest Special Feature - Dementia in Norfolk

 A Community Chest special feature on dementia in Norfolk.

Most of us are living longer than people did in the past, but in Norfolk the proportion of people aged over 65 is rising faster than the national average. The incidence of dementia amongst the Norfolk population is set to mirror this increase, with experts predicting that the current estimated number of 13,000 people in Norfolk living with dementia will increase to 20,312 by 2025, a 62% increase and 11% higher than the projected national increase of 51%.

In this series of interviews we set out to find out what dementia is, what it's like living with dementia and caring for someone with dementia, what services and support are available locally, and where you can find further information about dementia. We speak to:

Beverley Hallpike, NHS Nurse Consultant in Dementia in Norfolk; Philip, a gentleman with early stage dementia and his wife Margaret who will in future become his carer; Malcolm, who cared for his wife Iris, who suffered from dementia, for fifteen years and is now a Govenor of the local Mental Health Trust; Laura Meadowcroft, Norfolk Area Manager for the Alzheimer's Society; and Maureen Begley, Dementia Strategy Programme Manager for the East of England who is overseeing the local implementation of the National Dementia Strategy.

For further information about dementia and other issues raised by this feature you may wish to visit:

www.alzheimers.org

www.ageuk.org

www.nmhct.nhs.uk

Edited from original content which was broadcast on 14th December 2010.

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