Belfast has the best record of any city in the United Kingdom for identifying people with dementia, according to an analysis of official health statistics carried out by the UK’s Alzheimer’s Society.
Three-quarters of those suffering from dementia in Belfast have been properly diagnosed by doctors, compared with fewer than a third of those living with the disease in east Yorkshire, the society says in a report published today.
Fewer than half of the million people in the UK with dementia have been properly diagnosed, it claims, warning that this causes major delay in the use of treatments that could put off its full onset.
“We don’t yet know for sure why some areas are better than others, although all areas have work to do,” the society says.
“In some places, doctors are more aware of the disease and signs of its onset, while better co-operation between health and social care organisations and shorter waiting times for diagnosing could help, too.”
The society’s chief executive Jeremy Hughes said it was disgraceful that almost half of all people afflicted with dementia in the UK had not been properly diagnosed.
