WaMH in PC's blog

A new study has shown how campaigning has led to a real reduction in the average levels of discrimination received by people living with mental health issues.

Research by the British Journal of Psychiatry of England's Time to Change anti-stigma programme has revealed an 11.5% reduction in average levels of discrimination.

The findings provide the first evidence that it is possible to change the way the public treat people with mental health problems but that a long term focus is needed to ensure that discrimination is removed from all areas of people’s lives.

There has been a significant reduction in discrimination from friends (14% reduction), family (9%), and in social life (11%) while the campaign target audience has also seen a significant increase in willingness to live with someone with a mental health problem in the future (15%).

This suggests that change is happening within personal relationships, and these are all areas which the programme has specifically targeted.

The evaluation covered the first phase of Time to Change, which ran between 2007 and 2011and was funded by the Big Lottery Fund and Comic Relief. 

For further information please read the Landmark study shows drop in discrimination against people with mental health problems on the Time to Change website.

There are currently 800,000 people in the UK with dementia and there will be over a million people with dementia by 2021.  

Of the estimated 44,598 people currently living with dementia in Wales only 38.5% have received a formal diagnosis compared to 44% in England, 63% in Northern Ireland and 64% in Scotland*.  

Well-informed GPs and healthcare professionals are crucial to both diagnosing dementia and supporting people to live well and a diagnosis of dementia can offer a lot of help including:

• Providing people with an understanding of what is happening to them
• Opening doors to information
• Providing support services and medication which can make a real difference
• Helping people to live well with dementia and allowing time to plan for the future

The Alzheimer’s Society runs a variety of services in your local area and we can send you information on what is available and to talk to you and your staff about the support available for people living with dementia and their families.

The services it provides include dementia cafés, ‘Singing for the Brain’ groups, advocacy and befriending services.

The Society also has a Dementia Support Workers team who can provide home visits offering emotional and practical support and signposting people to other available services.

We've also developed tools in conjunction with the Society to help GPs diagnose and manage dementia including an online training module - developed in partnership with the BMJ - with further information available on our Free Dementia Training page.

The following links also provide resources for both mental health care professionals and newly diagnised dementia sufferers and their carers:

• Alzhemer's Society - Health Professionals Section - Find out more about dementia in your local area, resources for you and your patients, and training opportunities
• Living Well With Dementia After Diagnosis Bilingual Information Pack - Links to a downloadable information pack for people newly diagnosed with dementia with hard copies available at the memory service and provided on diagnosis

If you'd like further information about dementia services across Wales please download the following booklets and use the contact details they contain to get in touch with your local office : 

• Alzheimer’s Society in Wales: Support services and information
• Cymdeithas Alzheimer yng Nghymru: Gwybodaeth a gwasanaethau cymorth

If you have any other questions please contact us via email at lhills@rcgp.org.uk or on 029 2050 4516.

* Tesco, Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Scotland (2012) Mapping the Dementia Gap - study produced by Tesco, Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Scotland

Here are a couple more stories which have been pointed out to us and raise some interesting points about the state of modern mental health care across the UK.

From the Express website comes a claim by the President of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) that patients are being failed by the NHS because GPs don't have enough time, training or resources to provide proper care.

Dr Clare Gerada was interviewed by the website for its We GPs can’t help mental health victims in 10 mins story where she said waiting lists, poor investment and red tape were preventing people getting the services they need.

Meanwhile, the BBC's Health Correspondent Nick Triggle explains how the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has said that the standard of care provided for people with dementia is "patchy".

The warning came as the organisation unveiled new standards for dementia care covering issues such as housing and access to leisure services. For further information please read his Dementia care "patchy" on the BBC's website. 

If you have a mental health news story or event you would like us to highlight on this blog please contact us via email at lhills@rcgp.org.uk or on 029 2050 4516.