This year’s Dementia Awareness Week, from May 15th to 21st, is being celebrated by healthcare workers in Herefordshire and Hereford’s Alzheimer’s Society, by encouraging people worried about dementia to access the information and support available locally.

There are an estimated 850,000 people with dementia in the UK, with numbers set to rise to over 1 million by 2025. Dementia worries nearly two thirds of us and often people don’t where to go for advice and support.

That’s why dementia awareness events have been held at Hereford County Hospital and marked at the community hospitals this week to provide patients and visitors with the opportunity to talk openly about dementia and how to live well with the condition.

Barbara Kydd, Dementia Advisor at the Alzheimer’s Society in Herefordshire, said: “During this year’s Dementia Awareness Week the Alzheimer’s Society is delighted to be working with local healthcare workers helping support Herefordshire to face up to dementia and share their worries about the condition.

“By openly talking about dementia we hope to tackle the many myths and misunderstandings about the condition and get across that life doesn’t end when dementia begins.

“Alzheimer’s Society is here for anyone affected by dementia and there are lots of ways we can help you. Contact our Hereford team on 01432 371137, open from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, or call our National Dementia Helpline on 0300 222 1122 or visitwww.alzheimers.org.uk/DAW.”

Sarah Clinton, dementia champion at Wye Valley NHS Trust, added: “We have 32 specially trained dementia nurses and champions, who are helping to train other colleagues at the Trust, who have an invaluable role in promoting the wellbeing of dementia patients staying in our hospitals, and we plan to recruit more staff to become champions.

“As a champion I am passionate about raising awareness of dementia in our hospitals and community services to ensure that we are providing the right care for patients. This training enables us to be better equipped to interact with and help patients who are being cared for in hospital with dementia. This is an ongoing campaign with training focused on improving staff awareness of dementia.”

Sarah Holliehead, lead nurse at Wye Valley NHS Trust, said: “We are taking action to ensure that dementia awareness is embedded across our organisation so that we can improve experiences and outcomes for people with dementia locally.

“In our hospitals we have a number of initiatives, including an identification system for patients with dementia and ’nine important things about me’, a document that provides important information about a person, to enable staff to provide person centred compassionate care.

“Working together with the Alzheimer’s Society means that we are also able to signpost people to local support and advice when they leave hospital.”

More support is available at Hereford’s Alzheimer’s Society office in Widemarsh Street, open from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

To find out more about dementia support at your local hospital, if you are a patient in hospital or a relative, please speak to the nurse or Sister in charge of the ward or department.