Pain, distress: how would you know?
A new international guide for carers, which provides advice on how to help with pain and distress in people with dementia, has been published by the National Council for Palliative Care (NCPC), as part of the British government’s Dementia Challenge.
A new international guide for carers, which provides advice on how to help with pain and distress in people with dementia, has been published by the National Council for Palliative Care (NCPC), as part of the British government’s Dementia Challenge.
The guide titled ‘How would I know?’ offers a range of top tips to help carers and health and care professionals identify whether someone with dementia may be in pain or distress.
It also offers advice on what may be causing this pain and distress, and a range of possible solutions. It follows on from NCPC’s last year’s publication, ‘Difficult Conversations for Dementia’, which provides advice on how to talk to people with dementia about their end of life wishes.
More than 35 million people worldwide have dementia, with the number expected to double in the next 30 years.
Simon Chapman, Director of Policy and Parliamentary Affairs at the National Council for Palliative Care said: “When people with advanced dementia experience pain or distress they may behave in ways that people caring for them find difficult to cope with, and also find it hard to say what is troubling them.
“This is why it is so important to know how to spot signs of pain or distress and what can be done to help them. With almost half of us having a close friend or family member with dementia we really hope that this new guide provides valuable assistance.”
Alistair Burns, the National Clinical Director for Dementia added: “Too often pain or distress in people with dementia may be overlooked or viewed as an unavoidable part of their illness rather than something that can be alleviated.
“This new guide will be incredibly helpful in helping people to better understand the realities of living with and caring for somebody with dementia.”
View the ‘How would I know?’ guide.
