Dementia patients left to pay for the majority of their care themselves
The Alzheimer’s Society have discovered that dementia patients in the UK pay on average £21,322 per year towards their own care, with the NHS only stumping up a third of the total costs.
Figures compiled by the London School of Economics and Kings College London for the charity reveal that average amount spent on care per dementia patient was £32,242. Only a third – approximately £10,784 – came from the NHS or council funds, meaning that the rest of the care services were provided by private care services or in the form of unpaid care. This equates to £21,322 worth of services to be funded by the individual.
Overall, dementia patients cost the UK £26.3 billion, however it is estimated that £17.4 billion came from the private sector or unpaid care from family and friends.
Lack of paid-for care
Alzheimer’s Society chief executive Jeremy Hughes told BBC News “If you have cancer or heart disease you can quite rightly expect that the care you need will be free. That is just not the case for people with dementia. Families are forced to break the bank to pay for basic care for a loved one.”
The number of cases of dementia have stayed consistent at 7.1% of the over 65’s however, experts have predicted that overall numbers would increase from 850,000 to over two million due to the ageing population. The report said there had been a rise in younger adults with the disease – up from 17,000 to more than 40,000.