Enable Rights and Choices of Individuals with Dementia Whilst Minimising Risks

All forms of dementia can affect the way a person communicates, so in time they may have to find different ways of expressing themselves and their feelings. As a carer your non-verbal communication will become important, your body language, facial expressions, gestures, eye contact and tone of voice will have to be taken into account when you are communicating with a sufferer. In the early stages of some forms of dementia people may have difficulty finding the right word they are looking for, and in the later stages of some forms of dementia the words could be lost completely. As the dementia progresses, it gets a lot

People who have dementia are not aware of requirements for living. They can forget to do the essential things that are vital. Taking medicines, hygiene and even eating are often forgotten. They can get lost or hurt and not understand what is necessary to correct a situation. Turning on the cooker or water and forgetting to turn it off again, locking doors, crossing streets etc can all be dangerous even deadly. In the same way as you would not think an infant capable of self care, a person with dementia cannot be either. Considering the facts that they cannot act in the manner of a

In dementia care is a key aspect of best practice. It is a way of caring for a person with dementia as an individual with unique qualities. It means looking at the world from the person’s point of view ‘standing in their place’ as it were and appreciating how they may be feeling.

Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups act is an act designed to stop the contact between children and vulnerable adults who may have been harmed. These people who have harmed them will then be on a barred list and will be barred from going into contact with the people that they have harmed. This is where CRB checks come into place when entering to work with any vulnerable people to ensure that they are safe working with them and not putting danger towards the vulnerable people. This links to people with dementia because they are vulnerable therefore they will be to be safeguarded. Anyone caring or working with the dementia sufferers will need to have a CRB check carried out to ensure that they are safe working with them and aren't going to harm them. The mental health act focuses on people who are at risk to themselves or other people. this act sets up certain frameworks that allow the care and treatments of mentally disordered people. This links to people with dementia because as dementia progresses they will be at risk to themselves and others therefore the mental health act can

1.2 Having a code of practice is very important when working with people with dementia. People with dementia are considered one of the most vulnerable groups of people in the society. They have rights and they expect a certain standard of work, moral and ethic standard from people who look after them.

* Sometimes people with dementia do not feel there is anything wrong with them. They may become cross when people try to help. Carers often comment that people with Alzheimer’s show subtle changes to their personality. For example they might behave or react differently to how they did before they became ill.

Dementia individuals require a regular routine in their life, for instance; feeling comfortable and knowing their surroundings, the carers should ideally be faces they know well, rather then brought in for the day bank staff. When the regular routine is thrown off kilter, dementia individuals can feel confused, annoyed and unbalanced.

The laws set out to monitor and inspect the services is a measure taken by the authorities to safeguard vulnerable adults. Service providers have a set of rules they have to meet in order to practice as health care providers. The placebo effect demonstrates that changing a way of thinking can actually change the way one feels. Dementia is one of the biggest challenge in health care, there is no treatment for it yet and the population seems to live longer due to the advanced medical care.

With this being the case it is recommended that caregivers to the elderly make themselves aware of the common signs of Alzheimer’s. Things such as forgetting a name important dates, appointments or difficulty following a familiar recipe but remembering them later, trouble finding their words when talking, rapid mood swings, separation from friends and family to being confused about a time or place, all of these are signs to watch for and look

A major issue for caregivers is that neither the patient nor the caregiver can pinpoint the exact symptoms of the disease. For instance, the patient will experience common lapses in memory and thus will not be able to carry out the everyday tasks like he used to. As stated earlier, many caregivers overlook these mild signs and do not realize that the disease is present until it gets worse.It should also be noted that many people fear the fact that they might have dementia. The people who have remarkable social skills therefore are very well at hiding their memory loss. (Powers, 2003) Being fearful about one's situation can cause restlessness and feeling of despair. If the caregivers are too blunt about the disease, the patient can even go on to commit suicide because of his condition.

When in fact they took their clothes of due to excessive heat similar to the same way an individual with Alzheimer took his or her clothes off. Dupuis, Wiersma, and Loiselle, (2012), explain that dominant discourses form how behaviours are perceived in the dementia care context and afterward impact the actions used to react to behaviour (p.163). In addition, dominant perception influences the approaches to behaviours can cause much preventable agony for person with dementia who are misconstrued (As cited in Fazio et al., 1999) (p.163). We must shift away from dominant discourse that is fixed and move toward a more fluid dominant discourse whereby we will be open minded to possibilities in other to facilitate positive social discourse in the community.

Personal rationale- I am currently working on a dementia unit so as a caring professional it is my duty to reduce the likelihood of abuse. To do this my place of work endorses accurate care plans and they communicate regularly with family and relatives. With residents who have dementia we are more vigilant as they are more vulnerable to harm or abuse as they do not understand they are

People with Alzheimer's have trouble making decisions, which could make them fearful and worried or quiet and withdrawn, or they may have trouble starting tasks. The family of the person that is going through this needs to have a plan. You can take care of them or you can send them to a professional. They would need to feel safe with their

Dementia is a generic term used to describe symptoms that indicate significant loss of intellectual and cognitive functions which includes memory, thinking and communication such as changes in social behaviour and problem solving and the ability to carry out day-today activities (Alzheimer’s society, 2014). The current estimate of people living with a form of dementia in the United Kingdom is around 850,000 and has predicted to increase to over 1 million by 2025 and over 2 million by 2051 (Alzheimer’s society, 2014). Of those affected with dementia, 90% eventually develop behavioural and psychological symptoms (Hort et al, 2010; Steinberg et al 2008). Behavioural and psychological symptoms include agitation, aggression, restlessness, depression and anxiety. These symptoms cause higher morbidity and a poorer quality of life for patients and carers (Nilamadhab, 2009; Cerejeira, 2012). More than one third of people living with dementia have behaved aggressively, particularly in the moderate to severe stages of the condition (Alzheimer’s society 2014). Reasons for aggressive behaviour

Abuse of vulnerable adults may occur at the adult's home, in a supportive accommodation such a hospital, care home or nursing home, independent living accomadtation, health services such as GP surgeries, public settings and local community or other places previously assumed safe. Where the abuse occurs will be determined by the setting in the environment. Nursing care homes, surgeries and hospitals usually have strict regulatory controls to ensure adequate care is being given, however paid care staff in domiciliary homes may work with little or no supervision. Where there is poor management, little assessment and no enforced legislation in place, those receiving support are more likely to receive inadequate care; this is when abuse starts to occur.