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News item 

Campaign encourages people to seek early diagnosis for dementia

4 March 2011 

A new government pilot campaign is being launched in the north west aimed at increasing early diagnosis of dementia. It encourages people to recognise the signs and symptoms of the condition and urges them to seek advice from their GP if they are worried. 

Latest figures show that in Bolton, there is an estimated 2,896 people with dementia and of those people approximately 1,659 remain undiagnosed and are missing out on access to the right treatment and support to help them live well. In the North West, there is an estimated 82,661 people with dementia and of those people approximately 46,709 remain undiagnosed.

In Bolton the figure of people living with dementia is expected to rise to an estimated 3,7231 people in 2021. New statistics also show that in England 80 per cent agree that the earlier dementia is diagnosed the easier it is to help treat the symptoms; however 52 per cent of people agree they do not know enough about dementia to be able to help somebody.

An early dementia diagnosis is crucial to enable people to get the right support and treatment needed and can improve a person’s quality of life, helping to maintain independence for longer. Fortunately, the signs and symptoms of dementia can be spotted early and include:

• struggling to remember recent events, although a person can easily recall things that happened in the past
• finding it hard to follow conversations or programmes on TV
• forgetting the names of friends or everyday objects
• difficulty recalling things that have been heard, seen or read
• a person repeating things or losing the thread of what they are saying
• problems with thinking and reasoning
• feeling anxious, depressed or angry about memory loss
• finding that other people start to comment on a person’s memory lost
• feeling confused even when in a familiar environment.

The early signs and symptoms campaign is being piloted in the north west and yorkshire and the humber regions, from 4 March to 3 April 2011 and will incorporate TV, radio and press advertising, PR and partnership working.

For further information about the signs and symptoms of dementia, visit www.nhs.uk/dementia