This is often an area where most have come in contact with but know very little about it. Dementia is now a major illness that affects 850,000 people in our society today is there help when things go wrong? According to the Alzheimer society.
“There are 850,000 people with dementia in the UK, with numbers set to rise to over 1 million by 2025. This will soar to 2 million by 2051.
225,000 will develop dementia this year, that’s one every three minutes.
1 in 6 people over the age of 80 have dementia.
70 per cent of people in care homes have dementia or severe memory problems.
There are over 40,000 people under 65 with dementia in the UK.
More than 25,000 people from black, Asian and minority ethnic groups in the UK are affected.”
Source: https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/info/20027/news_and_media/541/facts_for_the_media
A person with dementia often experiences problems with loss of memory, cognition, confusion, depression affecting their normal daily lives.
These are people that may have difficulties in recalling events, which can often lead them in dangerous places or scenarios. Often concentration, planning or organising becomes an almost impossible task to do on their own. Feelings of disorientation and confusion often set in (even visual hallucinations or delusions); resulting in mood swings and in some cases violent behaviour.
Unfortunately, the condition of dementia is progressive and the symptoms will get worse over time. The symptoms may be distressing and challenging for the person and their relatives. In severe cases some affected by dementia or any other mental illness can be detained under section 2 or 3 of the Mental Health Act 1983.
There are many organisations that help people with these serious conditions, like Age UK, Alzheimer Society, SANE, Dementia Action Alliance etc… It is time we all supported these and many other organisation to raise the awareness of Mental Health illness in our society today.
We are working closely with many of those organisations that help people with dementia and other mental health issues. Our aim is to beat the stigma of such illnesses in order to reach out to so many suffering in silence.
Surprisingly solicitors can often play an important role helping those that have been “sectioned”, enabling individuals and families know of their “legal” rights and responsibilities, and help address the challenges that they would face in severe circumstance, especially in mental health wards or hospitals.
With these specially trained “Mental Health solicitors”, families can often get their voice heard quicker and avoid lengthy delays, or raise important concerns about the welfare of a loved one, often times assisting in challenging a CTO (Community Treatment Order).
