Plans for Sheffield to become 'dementia-friendly' city

Sheffield is aiming to be a dementia-friendly city to help support around 7,000 people living with the debilitating and incurable condition.

A new Sheffield Dementia Strategy makes nine pledges over the next five years, running from 2025-30.

The first commitment is: “Sheffield will become a dementia-friendly city – where individuals, communities, organisations and businesses all support people with dementia to live as well as they can.”

The other top two commitments relate to doing more to prevent, reduce and delay the risk of developing dementia and to improving access to a diagnosis at the earliest possible stage. The rest relate to different types of support and care for people with dementia, their carers and families – including crisis support, healthcare and end-of-life services.

A report on the issue will be discussed at a meeting of Sheffield City Council’s adult health and social care committee next Wednesday (October 30). It will be asked to approve the dementia strategy.

The report says that there are estimated to be between 6,360 and 7,333 people aged over 65 currently living with various types of dementia in Sheffield, which is between 6.7 per cent and 7.7 per cent of the 94,840 people aged 65 years and over in the city.

Approximately 140 people under 65 in Sheffield have young onset dementia.

The report says: “Our vision was and continues to be to making sure people with dementia are supported to live life to their full potential. Our plans are based on what people living with dementia, and people working with dementia, had said is important to them.”

It adds that many people are able to live well with dementia if they are given the right help, support and treatment for the condition.

The report says that national research shows that “vulnerable individuals face

increased dementia risk due to lifelong exposure to risk factors, compounded by poverty and ethnicity. A timely diagnosis and early help is also key to ensuring people get the support that they need.”

A survey answered by 183 people with experience of dementia, including carers and professionals, shows that some support services, such as dementia cafes and support groups, are working well. These have increased in number from four in 2019 to more than 40.

Support for people with dementia in residential care settings was rated well in the survey.

The problem areas include “the length of time people are waiting for diagnosis, barriers accessing transport, some poor experiences of health and social care services, a lack of dementia specialist support for carers and the cost of services and support”.

The availability of information and advice was found to vary.

The report stated: “Where people experienced a lack of knowledge, understanding and skill, it was very detrimental to their experience.”

The strategy is increasing its focus on services for ethnic minority groups and women, noting the increased risk for some ethnic minority groups and “also the need to do more to ensure dementia support is accessible and culturally appropriate”.

Dementia rates are 22 per cent higher among black people in the UK compared to white people, while black and South Asian dementia patients die younger and sooner after diagnosis.

Two in three people with dementia (65 per cent) are women, which is not accounted for by their longer life expectancy alone. The report says that Sheffield will introduce more targeted interventions to reduce dementia risks for women.