Rehabilitation Must Be At The Heart Of Dementia Care In The UK, Urges New World Alzheimer Report
With almost 1 million people living with dementia in the United Kingdom, rehabilitation remains the missing link in dementia care, leaving thousands of Britons without the support they need to live with dignity and independence for longer.
That is the central warning of the World Alzheimer Report, coming this Thursday, by Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI).
Dementia rehabilitation is a person-centred, collaborative approach to care that enables people to maintain or rebuild skills that are important to them, from making tea and shopping independently to mobility, speech, hygiene and self-care. By focusing on what matters most to the person, rehabilitation helps people remain independent, stay connected with their communities and workplaces, and reduce strain on families and health services.
Although dementia is acknowledged in the UK’s health and care strategies, the report finds rehabilitation is rarely prioritised. Only around a quarter of WHO Member States have a national dementia plan, and of those, just over half mention rehabilitation. In the UK, the breakdown of health and social care integration often means people are denied access to support like rehabilitation.
With the number of cases – and associated costs – both projected to continue to rise, ADI argues rehabilitation must be proactively offered and delivered as a standard part of care to help people live well while potentially reducing costs.
“Rehabilitation is not an optional add-on, it is a right,” said Paola Barbarino, Chief Executive of ADI. “When you are diagnosed with cardiovascular or respiratory diseases, treatment and rehabilitation are provided as a matter of course. Why should dementia be treated differently? People living with dementia deserve the same opportunity for support and recovery as anyone facing a major health condition.”
The report, “Reimagining life with dementia – the power of rehabilitation,” (an embargoed version is available for download here) notes that in the UK, allied health professionals such as occupational therapists and physiotherapists have the expertise to deliver rehabilitation, but their role in dementia care is underused.
It also presents evidence of rehabilitation’s potential economic value, showing how people who received rehabilitation were able to remain at home for an average of six months longer before moving into residential care, compared to those who did not have access to such interventions. With global dementia costs projected to reach $2.8 trillion USD a year by 2030, such outcomes could be key to easing pressure on the NHS by reducing hospitalisations and costs.
ADI is urging the UK governments to better embed rehabilitation into national dementia planning, ensure NHS professionals receive training, and provide families with the knowledge and tools to support loved ones. It calls on healthcare professionals to more readily offer rehabilitation as part of post-diagnostic support.
“Rehabilitation restores a sense of identity and purpose,” Barbarino added. “Even the smallest gains can transform lives. Too often, we hear that clinicians will tell someone newly diagnosed with dementia to ‘go home and get your end-of-life affairs in order.’ But people can live well with a diagnosis for many years with the correct support in place, and rehabilitation can facilitate this. ADI is demanding that healthcare systems proactively offer rehabilitation for dementia as they would for any other condition, like respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. It is time to make rehabilitation a routine part of dementia care in the UK.”
