There are 850,000 people living with Dementia in the UK. 225,000 people are diagnosed with the condition every year – that’s about one person every three minutes.
While age is the most significant contributing factor to dementia, it’s not just the ‘old’ that develop it; one out of 20 people living with the condition are under the age of 65.
Figures recently released by the Office of National Statistics revealed that in 2015, an additional 28,189 deaths were registered compared with 2014. 86% of this increase consisted of people aged 75 and over – a figure of 24,201, of which 41% had an underlying cause of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.
Dementia isn’t an actual disease; it’s an all-encompassing term used to describe a collective group of symptoms that occur when brain cells stop working properly.
While most people associate dementia with memory loss, the condition affects people in a wide variety of ways. These include changes in behaviour, confusion and disorientation, delusions and hallucinations, difficulty communicating, problems judging speeds and distances, even craving for particular foods.
Interestingly, there are more women in the UK living with dementia than men. Of the 850,000 people livingwith dementia in the UK, 500,000 of them are women. This may be because more women are living well into their 80s – nearly three in four people aged over 90 are women. According to Alzheimer’s research, women over 60 are twice as likely to develop dementia as they are of getting breast cancer and after the age of 65, the risk of dementia doubles every five years.
The four main conditions that make up dementia are Alzheimer’s, Vascular dementia, Dementia with Lewy bodies and Frontotemporal dementia.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia, accounting for about two-thirds of cases in the elderly. Vascular dementia occurs when blood flow to the brain becomes reduced. Some people have both vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease which is often referred to as mixed dementia.
Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is a type of dementia that shares symptoms with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Tiny deposits of protein, known as Lewy bodies, form in the brain’s nerve cells. Although it’s not understood why they appear, or how they contribute to dementia, their presence is linked to low levels of important chemical messengers and to a loss of connections between nerve cells which, over time, causes the death of nerve cells and loss of brain tissue. Some people can show features of both Alzheimer’s and DLB.
Frontotemporal dementia, or FTD, is relatively rare and thought to account for less than 5% of all dementia cases. It’s caused by damage to cells in areas of the brain called the frontal and temporal lobes, which regulate personality, emotions and behaviour, reasoning, planning and decision- making as well as the understanding and production of language. It usually affects people between the ages of 45 and 64, although three out of every 10 people develop the condition at an older age.
Being diagnosed with a degenerative mental illness such as dementia ultimately means there are likely to be problems with maintaining your independence. Support will be critical for your wellbeing, but once your mental ability starts to fail, your way of life could end up being decided by strangers. This is why it’s important to make arrangements for your care in case a time comes when you can’t do it yourself.
A Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) is a legal document that effectively gives someone else the right to act for you and make decisions on your behalf. This person – or more than one person if you prefer – is referred to as your attorney. Anyone can be your attorney, as long as they’re over 18.
There are two types of Lasting Power of Attorney. The first focuses on your personal welfare, while the other deals with your financial affairs. You’re not obliged to take out both LPAs but if you do, you can have the same attorney for both or they can be different.
A health and welfare LPA allows your attorney to make decisions about your well-being. This covers a wide variety of issues, for example your day- to-day care including medication, your diet and how you live. You can even give your attorney the power to accept or refuse life-sustaining treatment on your behalf.
A property and affairs LPA addresses the material things in your life. This can include payingyour bills, collecting your income and benefits, conducting your financial affairs or even selling your house. This is quite a responsibility so if you wish, you can place restrictions or conditions about what your attorney can do within your LPA. One thing to be aware of with a property and affairs LPA is that your attorney isn’t allowed to have been declared bankrupt.
No one likes to think they could develop life limiting conditions, but the reality is that dementia is indiscriminate. It can affect any of us at any time in later life, so it’s reassuring to know that if you’re unable to make a decision yourself, they’ll be someone who can. Because you’ll have chosen this person yourself, you’ll know they will have your best interests at heart and will make decisions based on what you want, rather than leaving it to a stranger or someone you don’t trust.
The key to a Lasting Power of Attorney, however, is that you can only set one up when you’re well. Once you’ve lost capacity, it’s too late because the law deems that you’re not deciding for yourself that you want to make a LPA and that you don’t understand what it means, so timing really is of the essence.
If you’re interested in drafting your LPA, Crystal Advice offers a free no obligation consultation to guide you through the regulations and to discuss what’s right for your circumstances.
