Dementia debacle continues

Campaigners from the Alzheimer's Society attacked the health body for confused policy-making, as NICE issued new guidelines on how to improve the care of people with dementia across the country on the same day as its decision to severely restrict access to Alzheimer's drug treatments because of cost came into force.

Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, says,

'By releasing these guidelines today NICE is trying to cynically cloak its flawed evaluation of Alzheimer's drug treatments. On the one hand the health body is moving to improve care and services for people with all types of dementia and with the other snatching away the only drugs that can provide them and their carers with a hugely improved quality of life. It's not about care or treatment; people with dementia have the right to both.

'The Department of Health and NICE must end this debacle, before people with dementia start to suffer under NICE's confusing mess. It would be a tragedy if many of the positive recommendations made in today's guidelines are overshadowed by NICE's devastating decision on Alzheimer's drug treatments.' 

Amidst the confusion over treatments for people with Alzheimer's disease, the expert panel on the Dementia Clinical Guidelines have made some positive recommendations for people with other types of dementia, including improving training for care staff and GPs.