The BBC is
reporting this morning that NHS England’s diagnosis rate of dementia in the
population is around 20% lower per head than it is in NHS Scotland or Northern
Ireland. Now before we all rush to
cultural stereotypes and poor taste jokes – the issue that is being highlighted
is the ‘shocking low’ diagnosis rate in England. A 20% improvement in diagnosis rates will
still mean that around one-third of cases will go undiagnosed. And this will merely bring up the diagnosis rate
in England to that of our Celtic cousins.
There is an
estimated 670,000 cases of dementia in England – this is set to double in the
next 30 years on current trends. Just
think of the business opportunities for the care sector, or if you prefer the burden on the state that
this will cause.
Dr Charles
Alessi – Chairman of the National Association of Primary
Care and an adviser for Public Health England gives some ground for hope. He wants to see more preventative work undertaken
– especially with regard to vascular dementia which is caused by reduced blood
flow to the brain. This condition can be
limited or prevented.
Guess what the preventative measures are, don’t smoke,
exercise, eat well, control blood pressure and avoid or control diabetes…
This got me thinking.
Should the state start giving fruit and vegetables away free to anyone
who will cycle or walk to the pick up point? Or better still should we all follow Todmorden’s
example of ‘Incredible Edible’ and plant fruit and vegetable around our
communities for us all to use. Do you
fancy roadside chive and fennel?
And for those who prefer the stick to the carrot we
could always tax less healthy foods!
These simple solutions seem like they should be particularly attractive …
but beware. I heard a challenging tale
yesterday about food banks. There has
been an increase in anti-social behaviour reported in some areas where food has
been given away free. The ‘free eggs’
are not all being eaten! Some are being
hurled inappropriately.
I glanced at the BBC2 programme on a day in the life of
the NHS yesterday. I saw people with
heart conditions having emergency treatment being encouraged not to smoke and
uttering self-delusional comments about ‘I only smoke 5 a day etc.’ For the
viewer the message was clear – but not to the patient.
I suppose all this goes to show that we have more to
worry about than dementia. Why are we as
a species so ready to diagnose the remedy for others, but be so unwilling to
take it ourselves? If I am unlucky
enough to get dementia I may well end up not being able to ponder whether I
should have had more lettuce. At least I
won’t understand the ‘I told you so’ comments either though! Now there’s a thought – enjoy them while you
still can!
We have two identified speeding hotspots in Frodsham at the moment. They are Bridge Lane and Fluin Lane. That doesn't mean there isn't speeding elsewhere - it is just that it appears more prevalent in these locations.
Now the speed limit on Bridge Lane will be dropped to 30mph when the bridge repair works start. In fact the 30mph speed limit will be extended all the way to the Clifton roundabout and 500m up the road from the bridge towards Sutton Weaver. This will be a temporary measure for the duration of the bridge works. We should anticipate that there will be police enforcement activity there when the bridge works start.
