Adequate services for dementia

Abstract

Elderly care has gained increased exposure over the years and great advances have been made in this field to address the rising demands of the service users. This is mainly attributed to the increased life expectancy, the fact that people are living longer; increases the probability of people developing a disability or a cognitive impairment. Dementia is a cognitive impairment which can affect the brain and the memory. Usually it affects the elders, which can cause a difficult status in their life. This research illustrates how an elderly can benefit from various services which both public and private sectors provide. The main purpose of this research was to bring awareness of the need of the carers on dementia so that they would receive better support to take care of people with dementia. It also brings out all the benefits that elderly persons can profit from various services. Also the research was done to examine the current situation in Malta regarding dementia and how this disease is tackled. To do so, various journals, newspapers and books were used and interviews were done to find the information on dementia in Malta and whether dementia is a priority in Malta. It was found that dementia is a low priority in Malta. It was found that services for dementia in Malta are very limited; therefore, both the public and the private sector have to do more to resolve this issue. It was recommended to create other services such as district nurse to help people with dementia live better. Moreover, an integrated policy for hospital and community should be implemented in Malta to give additional importance to cognitive impairment as the aging population is increasing and dementia is becoming a common issue in elderly persons. According to demographics, Malta has to find better method to collect statistics due to the fact that compared with other countries and with the ageing population, Malta have a low percentage.